Sonic X  The Iblis Saga
by Shadougelover14
Summary: Mephiles the dark returns and plans to unleash Iblis. With an unwilling Shadow, he might just succeed, but not if Sonic and co have a say in it. Has Shadouge.
1. Chapter 1

Shadow was asleep on his couch in his house. It was 12:00, and the darkness was heavy. The only light came from the TV, which was still on from when Shadow turned it on 3 hours ago. It gave off a dull bluish light. Suddenly, an unexplainable shadow fell across the sleeping hedgehog, yet nothing stood between him and the light, and his face scrunched up a little as he rolled onto his side, still asleep.

Shadow's dream...

Shadow looked around the endless dark void. He held a hand up to make sure his eyes weren't closed. They weren't.

"Where am I...?" he wondered aloud. He looked around, but saw nothing that would answer his question. Then, a sudden chill filled the air, and Shadow's breath came out in puffs of vapor as he crossed his arms to somewhat warm himself. Goosebumps rose up on his skin, making his quills stand. He could sense a sinister presence near him.

"Hello?" he called out, "Someone there?"

A low chuckle answered. It sent chills along Shadow's spine, something that happened so rarely that others thought him incapable of it.

"Who's there?" he demanded. At first there was silence, then, a deep voice spoke, causing Shadow to jump in his skin slightly.

"Well, well, Shadow the Hedgehog. It's been a while."

"What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"You don't remember me? I'm hurt Shadow, but I suppose I can't exactly blame you. It was your speedy blue friend and that princess Elise that caused you and the rest of the planet to forget me."

"What're you talking about? Who are you? Show yourself!"

"As you wish..."

Shadow glanced around but saw nothing. "I said show yourself."

Another chuckle came from behind him, but before he could turn around, two cold hands covered his red eyes, and the voice spoke in his ear, causing a shiver to pass through him.

"I'm right here..." the speaker chuckled.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked again.

"You'll find out."

Shadow was about to ask what this meant, but images started to fill his head. They played an event having to do with a place called Solleana, some princess there, an entity called Solaris, and finally, Solaris' two halves, Iblis, and, the half Shadow now knew stood behind him, Mephiles the Dark. His memories of Solleana and everything that took place there returned in a rush, causing him to fall to one knee and press a hand to his head.

"M-Mephiles...?" he mumbled as his headache subsided. He looked over his shoulder at the crystalline shade, who was looking at him with slitted reptillian green eyes full of amuzement.

"Hello, Shadow."

"How are you even here?" Shadow growled as he stood and faced the demon.

"Your friend, Sonic was it, only sealed Iblis in another dimension. I'm but the shadow cast. You can erase the light, but the shadow will always remain."

"Ok, why are you here?"

"Why? Do you not remember how we met? What you did? Did I not swear revenge?"

Shadow did remember, and he remembered how powerful this demon was, and how determined he could be to accomplish a goal, and how much Mephiles hated him. He tensed, sensing a fight on the horizon. Mephiles laughed and waved his hand. Shadow's eyes widened as his whole body went rigid and froze.

"What the...?" he mumbled as he tried to move. Mephiles chuckled as he walked up to Shadow and slowly circled him. Shadow gritted his teeth as Mephiles stepped out of sight. Then Mephiles placed his clawed hands on Shadow's shoulders, and his head appeared next to Shadow's.

"However, because I can be forgiving, I'll offer you another chance to join me. What do you say Shadow?"

"What do I say?" Shadow growled, "I say, forget it!"

"Stubborn as always. Very well, I guess I'll see you later. In the concious world of course."

Mephiles hit a pressure point on Shadow's neck, and Shadow blacked out.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow gasped awake, and bolted upright. He was covered in sweat, and his breathes were short and quick. After a few minutes, he was able to calm himself. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked at the clock. It was 9 in the morning. Sighing, he turned off the TV and headed for the door to meet up with Rouge at Club Rouge.

"What is Mephiles planning?" he thought as he stepped out the door. He pondered this as he zoomed toward Central City.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles is baaack. Little does Shadow know, this is only the beginning of what will be his most dangerous, challenging, and bonding journey ever. R&R! 


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter 2, enjoy. If anyone's ooc, sorry. If you don't like Shadouge, Taismo, Silvaze, Knikal, sorry. But at least give the story a chance. I own nothing.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow arrived at Club Rouge. As usual, it was full of energy and people. It didn't take long for him to find Rouge. The white bat was sitting at a booth waiting for him.

"Hey Shad, bout time ya got here slowpoke."

"Would you stop calling me Shad?"

"Nah, it's too much fun messing with you. So, are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You look like you got a lot on your mind. You can tell me whatever it is."

"It's nothing."

"Oh, well whatever. By the way, Sonic stopped by earlier. He says he wants a rematch."

"Why can't the faker take a loss?" Shadow growled with annoyance.

"Well, it was kinda hard to tell who won."

"If losing'll get the annoying thing off my back, so be it. Let's go."

"This is gonna be good. Let's get moving."

The two anthros headed for the door, but before he left, Shadow saw a blue gleam and froze. He looked around, Rouge giving him a questioning look.

"Shadow? What's the matter?" she asked. Shadow shook his head.

"Nothing. Thought I saw someone familiar is all. Let's go."

As they left, Shadow thought about the gleam.

'It couldn't have been Mephiles...could it?' he thought. He dismissed the thought and picked Rouge up and zoomed toward the race point.

xoxoxoxoxo

Upon arriving, they found Sonic and Tails waiting. They both waved.

"Hey Rouge, hey Shad!" Sonic called.

"Stop calling me that!" Shadow growled.

"So, whats this thing?" Rouge asked, looking at a high tech looking camera.

"This is a high speed camera. It should be able to tell us who wins this time." Tails explained.

"Not that we need it. I'm gonna win." Sonic stated smugly.

"In your dreams, Faker." Shadow smirked.

"Alright, on your marks, get set,-"

"Hello." a deep voice said.

Sonic had been so ready to run, that when the voice spoke, he took off in a flash, dirt and rocks flying, leaving the rest of the group behind.

"Sonic wait! No one said go!" Tails called after him. However, he was too far away to hear. Shadow and Rouge meanwhile, had looked at the speaker. Shadow froze upon recognising him.

"Who the heck are you?" Rouge asked. Mephiles laughed.

"A shame you don't remember me, bat."

Rouge growled and folded her ears back in offense.

"But it's no you that I want. I want 2 things, the Chaos emeralds,"

"Oh, shocker there. No one's been after them before..." Shadow muttered.

"And you, Shadow."

Shadow's eyes widened as shock filled him, Rouge, and Tails.

"What do you want with him?" Rouge asked.

"It doesn't involve you much. This is between me and him."

"He's my friend so it sure as heck involves me!"

"Rouge just stay out of this. I can take care of myself." Shadow snapped.

"No way! For one, your my friend. And two, NO ONE insults me and gets way with it! I'm gonna pound some respect into this guy!"

Before Shadow could stop her, Rouge lunged at Mephiles, fist ready. But before she could land a hit, Mephiles vanished, then reappeared behind her and kicked her into a tree. While she was getting up, Shadow lunged at Mephiles with a furious growl. Mephiles easily caught his fist inches from his face, an amuzed gleam in his eye, and twisted him around and trapped him in a sleeper hold.

"Oh man, where's Sonic when you need him?" Tails moaned.

Sonic was racing across a plain when he noticed Shadow wasn't with him. At first, he thought Shadow was just giving him a head start, but when Shadow didn't show up he bacame worried. He ran to the top of a cliff and looked in the direction he'd come from. He saw 4 figures back at the starting line. He recognized his friends, but the 4th he didn't know. What happened next shocked him. Rouge lunged at the stranger, was kicked into a tree, then Shadow attacked next but got trapped in a sleeper hold. Tails attempted to help but 3 shadowy creatures appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him. He heard Tails yell for help.

"Uh oh, looks like trouble." Sonic muttered. He jumped down from the cliff and ran back toward them at full speed.

Tails looked at the shadows meekly as they closed about him.

"Sure would be nice if Blue Boy showed up." Rouge muttered as she knocked aside a shadow that lunged at her. Then they saw a bright blue blur running at them.

Before Mephiles had a chance to move, Sonic hit him with his Spindash attack, and sent him skidding across the ground, freeing Shadow.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled joyfully.

"Bout time, Speedy." Rouge said as she helped Shadow up.

"Hey, at least I got here in time." Sonic chuckled.

"Well well, Sonic. SO nice to see you again." Mephiles growled as he got to his feet.

"Again? Do I know ya?"

"Allow me to fill in the blanks." Mephiles snapped his fingers, and everyone clutched their heads in pain as the events of Solleanna returned in a rush.

"I remember you now. You creep!" Rouge yelled angrily. Mephiles chuckled as he summoned an army of shadows.

"I'm not asking for much. You have no use for the Chaos Emeralds presently, and Shadow's not worth protecting. He brings nothing but death and destruction."

Rouge growled angrily. "Shut up, you don't know a thing about him!"

"On the contrary, I know EVERYTHING."

"You don't know the first thing about me!" Shadow retorted furiously.

"I know you still hate humans, despite your promise to that brat all those years ago-"

"Shut up." Shadow growled.

"Hey!" a voice shouted. Cosmo, Knuckles, Tikal, and Amy ran up to the group.

"Well, if it isn't the rest of the peanut gallery." Mephiles said.

"Who's that?" Cosmo asked.

"It's a long story, tell ya later." Sonic answered.

"You're a new face. Hmm, Cosmo is it?" Mephiles asked.

"How do you know my name?"

"You're minds are all open books to me. So, anyway, where were we? Oh yes, my deal. Give me the Chaos Emeralds and Shadow, and I'll let you live."

"Never!" Shadow growled before lunging at him. What happened next shocked everyone. Mephiles grabbed Shadow's fist in one hand, socked him in the gut with the other, then kicked him back into a group of shadows, who took hold of the winded hedgehog.

"What just happened?" Rouge asked in shock.

"He actually hurt Shadow..." Cosmo murmured.

"Now then, where the Chaos Emeralds?" Mephiles asked.

"Like we'd tell you." Rouge said.

"I gurantee you will." Mephiles snapped his fingers, and the shadows holding Shadow brought him to the demon.

"Because I know you'd hate for you dear Shadow to get hurt."

Mephiles held a claw up to Shadow's throat.

"Wait!"

"I'll give ya the emeralds..." Sonic muttered, the 7 stones appearing around him.

"...N-no..." Shadow murmured. "Don't give him the emeralds."

"But Shadow, what else can we do?" Rouge asked.

Shadow gave Sonic a hard look, and he knew his other option. The emeralds glew, then shot off into the sky, disappearing into space.

"You always have to make things hard." Mephiles sighed. Shadow glew red, then Chaos Blasted the shadows, who disintegrated.

"Well, I guess I'll be going into space. I'll leave you with a little parting gift." Mephiles vanished, while a giant purple monster appeared.

"Well, this should be fun. Any ideas, anyone?" Rouge asked.

"If I recall correctly, hitting the big eye should destroy it." Shadow answered.

"Good, I need to hit something."

Sonic spindashed the monster's eye, Rouge followed up with a Screw Kick, and Shadow finished it off with a Chaos Spear.

"Ok, I feel better now." Rouge smirked.

"So who is this Mephiles guy?" Amy asked.

"Let's get back to Tails' first to rest up. I think Shadow needs some healing too, Cosmo." Sonic said.

"I'm fine. I don't need..." before Shadow finished, he collapsed. Sonic and Rouge dove to catch him.

"Yeah, you're doin just great, Shad."

"Don't call me that..."

The group headed for Tails' place.

xoxoxoxoxo

Looks like the Chaos Emeralds are gone again. You know what this means. Space Adventure! R&R! 


	3. Chapter 3

At Tails' house, the group were all sitting around the living room. Sonic had just finished explaining the events of Soleanna.

"Wow, I can't beleive all that happened but we don't remember a thing." Amy said after Sonic finished.

"But how is Mephiles back? If what you said happened, shouldn't he have been destroyed?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, I don't understand it either. But it doesn't matter, we gotta stop him from getting the emeralds."

"You know what this means right?" Marine, who had arrived with Blaze the Cat and Cocoa the Chao, asked excitedly.

"What?" Tails asked.

"!Space trip!" she cheered, Cocoa chirping in agreement.

"Marine, this is going to be dangerous. You should stay here." Blaze said.

"No way, mate! I'm goin' and that's final!"

"Marine-"

"Blaze, it's no use talking her out of it. Just let her come." Sonic sighed, knowing Marine would probably come anyway like last time they told her she couldn't go somewhere.

Blaze sighed and nodded. Marine cheered and pumped her fist in the air, Cocoa copying her.

At that moment Cosmo entered.

"Is Shadow ok?" Rouge asked worriedly. Before Cosmo answered, Shadow walked in behind her.

"I'm fine." he muttered.

"Alright, so, should we start getting ready?" Amy asked.

"Yeah I'll go prepare the Blue Typhoon. Knuckles, we'll have to use the Master Emerald again. Is that ok?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, no point in arguing you people. I'll go get the emerald. Tikal and Shade will probably want to come too. Be back soon." Knuckles headed for Angel Island.

"Oy, can Cream and Cheese come too, mate?" Marine asked, pleading in her eyes.

"I don't know Marine. That's more of Vanilla's choice." Blaze answered.

"I'm just fine with it." a voice spoke up. Vanilla and Cream and Cheese entered the house.

"We heard you talking. I'd love to go." Cream said.

"I'm fine if Cream goes. Just listen to them Cream, and don't push any buttons."

"Oy, we're all goin' into space! Woo-hoo! Spacetrip! Space trip! We're goin' into space!" Marine cheered as she hopped around the room. Blaze stopped her.

"Marine, this is serious. We're stopping a demon from destroying the very fabric of time itself, not going for a joy ride."

"I know. But we'll still have fun mate! Visiting planets, finding treasure, hanging out with aliens. It's gonna be the bee's knees! Woo hoo!"

Blaze smiled. "Yeah, it will be fun."

"This isn't like fighting Eggman or the Metarex. We're fighting a time controling demon who's trying to free his other half and merge with him to destroy time. Be a little more serious." Shadow snapped.

"Oy, mate. When have I ever been serious?" Marine asked.

"Point taken."

"Oy Blaze, let's go pack. What should I take into space? Let's see, we'll need snacks, clothes, swimsuits, snacks..."

Marine's voice trailed off as she, Blaze, and Cocoa headed for their house.

"I'll go gather supplies." Amy said, running off with Cream and Vanilla.

"We'll need medical supplies. I'll take care of that." Cosmo said.

"Alright everybody, let's get ready to go." Sonic said.

xoxoxoxo

The Sonic group were putting all the supplies in the B.T. when Blaze, Marine, Knuckles, Tikal, and Shade arrived with bags and the Master Emerald.

"Alright, we've got all the supplies. Let's get ready to launch." Tails anounced.

They boarded the ship, and prepared for launch. After a few minutes of preperations, the ship lifted into the air, and left Mobius.

xoxoxoxo

And thus, the space adventure begins! R&R! 


	4. Chapter 4

Sonic and Tails were looking at a map.

"Alright, the first emerald was detected here, on Planet Megalopolitan. That's only 1 light year from here, I'll put us on hyper drive, and we should be there in about an hour." Tails explained.

"Sounds good to me. Call me when we're there. I'm gonna look for Shadow and Rouge." Sonic said, then ran off.

He found the two setting up the supply closet.

"Hey, what's up?" he greeted, leaning against the door frame.

"Nothing much, just putting things in their place." Rouge answered, flying to the top shelf and placing a bag of flour on it.

"How ya doin Shad? If you're still feeling sore, you should talk to Cosmo. With those healing powers of hers you'll be feeling fine in no time."

"I'm fine. And for the last time, stop calling me Shad!"

"Why should I, Shad?" Sonic asked mischeiviously. He saw the look in Shadow's eyes, then turned and bolted a split second before Shadow came after him.

Rouge sighed as she watched the two hedgehogs run off. 'Boys...' she thought.

Sonic laughed as he stayed ahead of Shadow. "Come on Shad, I thought you were supposed to be as fast as me!" he called back, turning and running backwards with crossed arms, a smirk on his face. Shadow glared at him, then smirked himself. Sonic was confused, but seconds later he realized what Shadow was laughing for.

He slammed into the wall as the hallway made a sharp turn. He fell forward and hit the floor. Shadow stopped and crossed his arms, a smirk on his face.

"Nice reflexes, Faker."

"Aw shut up..." Sonic mumbled into the floor.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Meanwhile, at the front of the ship, Tails was preparing to go into hyper drive. He pushed the intercom button.

"Everyone, we're about to enter hyper drive, so prepare for a little dizziness." he announced. He grabbed a lever, and pushed it forward. The ship accelerated to the max, stars and planets flying past the windows as everyone watched.

Shadow had been setting up his room when they started. He felt a little nauseous at first, but it passed seconds later, and he continued to put things in place. He didn't take much. An alarm clock, a pillow and blanket, and a picture. He pulled out the latter, and stared at it. It was of him and Maria, when she'd still been alive. Back then, smiling had been so easy for him. He could do it as easily as Sonic could. But after Maria was killed by GUN, he didn't smile as much now a days. Frankly, he wasn't sure if it was possible for him to smile any more. But as he stared at the picture, he felt a stir of happiness.

The picture was of him helping Maria put a puzzle together. Maria was laughing, and he was smiling at her joyful laugh. He remembered that day. It was 3 days before the invasion of the ARK. The flashback happened before he could stop it.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was standing in the observation room, looking at Earth thoughtfully.

"Are you going to stare out that window all day Shadow?" a voice asked. He turned to see Maria walking towards him.

"I just wonder what it's like down there. The Proffesor said my purpose has something to do with that planet. I want to know, why am I here? What's it like to see the sky above your head? And to feel the wind against your skin. I just want to know."

"I know. I wonder that too. But Grandpa says he has to find the cure for my disease first, then we can go down there together, just like we promised." Maria said, sitting down on the floor. Shadow smiled and nodded as he sat down as well.

"I brought something fun to do." Maria announced as she pulled a box out.

"What's that?"

"A puzzle."

"What's a puzzle?'

"It's sort of like a game. You put all the pieces together, and a picture is formed." Maria opened the box and dumped the pieces on the floor.

"Oh, sounds simple enough."

"This one is, but some aren't. Some have 1000 pieces, and those are very hard to put together. I tried once, but I gave up after 2 hours of trying to put the first two pieces together. Granpa has an easier time, but it still takes him at least 3 hours to finish it."

"Sounds like a challenge, maybe I'll try it sometime."

"Shadow, your so smart. I bet you could figure it out in no time."

Shadow and Maria laughed as they started putting pieces together. After 10 minutes, they had it put together, but one piece was missing. They looked around, but couldn't find it.

"Well shucks, I guess we won't be able to finish it." Maria pouted. Shadow stared at the puzzle hardly.

"What's wrong Shadow?"

"I guess I can understand how the puzzle feels. I'm missing something too, my purpose." Shadow answered.

"Don't worry Shadow, you'll find out one day for sure." Maria had a strange look in her eye, as if she knew more than she was letting on. Shadow shrugged it off.

"I hope we get to see Earth soon, I want to see the ocean, and the trees, and flowers too. My favorite is the rose, it's so beutiful, and it comes in differant colors. " Maria said dreamily.

Shadow chuckled. "Maria, you'll see that planet soon, I promise."

"And I promise you'll find your purpose one day too, Shadow."

She and Shadow clasped the other's hand, and stared out at Earth with dream filled hearts.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

The ship coming to a jarring halt brought Shadow back to the present. He realised he had a smile on his face.

'Guess I can still smile after all.' he thought. There was a knock at his door.

"Shadow, we'll be landing soon, come on." Rouge called through the door.

"Coming." he called back, placing the picture on the bedside desk next to the clock.

'After Maria's death, I felt like I had lost two pieces of me. Defeating Black Doom filled one empty space, but there was still a piece missing. I thought it could never be filled, but after I met Rouge, I felt as if something was slowly filling that space. Maybe Maria's gone, but maybe Rouge is the new piece in my puzzle...'

"Shadow, come on!" Rouge's impatient shout called him back to reality.

"I'm coming!" he yelled back with just as much annoyance in his voice. He headed for the door.

Upon opening it, he was met with Rouge's smile.

"Bout time, come on. I wanna get a good look at this planet before we land. If it looks muddy, I ain't gettin off this ship."

Shadow smirked as he and Rouge walked to the bridge.

xoxoxoxoxo

Sonic and co. exited the B.T. and stepped onto Planet Megalopolitan.

"Alright, we're looking for the red emerald. Keep your eyes and ears open." Tails instructed.

They nodded and split up.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow and Rouge asked what had to be the 20th person if they'd seen the emerald.

"No, but that sure is a popular target." the man answered.

"Huh?" Rouge and Shadow asked in unison.

"Another feller came askin if I'd seen a red jewel. I told him no, and he said if I did, let him no as soon as possible."

"Who was it?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, I didn't recognise the fellow, but he was mighty terrifying. Appeared out of nowhere he did. As soon as he approached me, I thought, 'This fella's trouble, no doubt.', he was about your height mister, only a little taller, and he was blue, and he had the most creepy eyes my eyes had ever seen. Green and slitted like a snake's they were, and the whites were red like a beet."

"Wait, Mephiles was here?" Shadow asked.

"Was that the fella's name? I'll remember that, he owes me for trashin' my wheel barrel! I merely asked if he wanted any of my crops, and he says no, so I INSIST he buy some. Then he get's madder than my wife when we're outta milk, and she gets madder than a wet hen, and blasts my poor wheel barrel and crops to smitherins. If you see this Memphis fellar, you tell him I gotta a bone to pick with him."

"Yeah, I'll make a mental note of that." Shadow muttered. He turned and began walking away. Rouge thanked the farmer, then followed.

"So, Mephiles is here too huh? We should let the others know so they can be on the look out." she said. She pushed a button on her wrist device.

"Hey, Sonic, Mephiles is here too, just so you know. Tell the others to be careful."

"Got it, thanks for the tip. You two be careful too." Sonic's voice said over the speaker.

"Kay, see ya later." Rouge ended the transmission.

"So, where to now?" she asked Shadow.

"Let's try that jewel shop downtown."

"Oh, okay!"

"Don't steal ANYTHING. Unless it's the Chaos Emerald."

"Oh, fine..."

Suddenly, Shadow grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. Seconds later, a purple energy orb hit where they'd been standing. They looked up and saw, to their displeasure, Mephiles, along with 5 shadows.

"Well, isn't this a small world? Didn't think you'd catch up with me this fast."

"Mephiles." Shadow growled, Chaos energy begining to form in his hand.

"Nice to see you too. Might you be looking for this?" Mephiles pulled out a red jewel the size of his fist. Ruby and jade eyes widened in shock.

"Where'd you get that?" Rouge asked increduously.

"Well, after questioning some idiot selling veggitables, I headed for that jewel shop you were talking about. After a little struggle, I got the emerald. The shop, sadly, didn't make it."

A fire truck raced by, sirens wailing, heading for a burning, smoking building that was utterly destroyed.

Rouge gasped. She might be a little bit of a jewel theif sometimes, she would never DESTROY the shop if she couldn't get her target.

"Must you always destroy if things don't go your way?" Shadow growled.

"You're one to talk. What about you? You wanted to destroy the earth for vengence. And all for what? A girl, and a human at that, that was bound to die anyway. Then you almost destroy Earth again with the Black Arms. You're no better than me Shadow."

Something in Shadow snapped, and he lunged at Mephiles with a furious growl. He shot Chaos Spears at the demon, but the shadows took them for him. 10 more rose up in their place. Rouge took on 3 of them, while Shadow destroyed 3 others. The remaining 4 appeared behind him, and grabbed him.

"Let me go!" he shouted

Rouge flew to assist him, but Mephiles flung an orb at her, causing her to fly through the air and smack into a building. She fell to the ground, stunned. She could only watch as 2 more shadows appeared and grabbed onto the struggling Shadow. She heard him call her name, half out of worry, and half begging for help. Mephiles appeared in front of him, and a purple dome encased them.

"Shadow!" Rouge cried, finally able to move. She flew at them, but it was too late. Mephiles and Shadow vanished, the dome with it.

"Shadow!" she yelled again. Suddenly, there was a rush of wind, and Sonic was beside her, the rest of the Typhoon crew running up to them.

"Rouge, what happened? Where's Shadow?" Sonic asked.

"He took him! Mephiles took Shadow!" Rouge wailed.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

DUN DUNN DUUUN! Shadow's been hedgehog napped!

I beleive this is what you call a cliff hanger. R&R! 


	5. Chapter 5

Shadow was sitting on the floor of Mephiles' ship with a frown on his face. He'd been in here for at least an hour, and he was starting to get annoyed.

"Hey! I'lm getting very impatient in here! If you want to talk, just get in here already!" he shouted.

"My my, aren't we impatient?" Mephiles mocked as he stepped through the door, literally.

"What do you want?" Shadow asked, standing.

"Not much, I just want your help with something. You see, it would take far too long for me to go to each planet, and I can get very impatient. So, with your Chaos Controling ability-"

"You think I'm gonna help you get the emeralds to free Ibis? Fat chance of that happening!" Shadow growled, cutting him off.

"Actually, you will help me. Wheather you want to or not."

"Give me one good reason why I should."

"If you don't, I'll have to bring your little bat girlfriend here and persuade you."

Shadow growled. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

Shadow glared at him furiously, Mephiles staring calmly back.

Finally Shadow turned his back to Mephiles.

"Fine, but leave Rouge and the others out of this." he growled.

Mephiles chuckled and walked up behind Shadow, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Gladly, so long as they stay out of my way."

Shadow growled as he continued to stare out the window.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Rouge was sitting in the bridge of the BT. She was deathly worried about Shadow.

Amy came in and noticed her, and gave her a sympathetic look.

"Don't worry, Rouge. I'm sure Shadow's just fine."

"He's with MEPHILES, who knows what that demon'll do to him." Rouge said sadly.

"Something tells me Mephiles won't kill him. I don't know what he plans to do though."

"Don't worry you two, I have an idea. We can track them by Mephiles' Chaos signature." Tails announced, coming into the room.

"Huh?" Both girls asked.

"We'll find him."

"Ok, that's all I need." Rouge said.

Tails typed some coordinates in the computer, and the ship started and lifted off into space.

On another part of the ship, Cosmo was walking down the hall towards the kitchen. She walked past a room, and noticed the door slightly ajar. She pushed it open, and realised it was Shadow's room. She saw a picture frame on the sidetable.

She felt a little bad snooping, but she walked over and picked it up, looking at it.

It was a picture of Shadow on the floor of what she assumed was the ARK, with a young girl, smiling while peicing together a puzzle.

"That must be Maria,"she murmured. She smiled as she looked at the happy girl, and seeing Shadow happy always made her happy, because she knew that even though he seemed tough on the outside, he was troubled on the inside.

"Cosmo?" a voice asked. She jumped and spun around. Seeing Rouge, she let out a sigh of releif.

"You startled me." she said.

"Sorry. What are you doing in here?"

"I was heading for the kitchen and saw the door open. Forgive me for snooping, but I was curious about the picture."

"Picture?"

Rouge walked over and looked at it.

"Oh yeah, I've seen this one. He looked so happy back then."

"Yes, I thought that too. What happened that made him so serious like he is now?"

"...Maria, she died, 50 years ago, when the ARK was invaded by GUN. She died after sending Shadow to Earth. He's still never forgiven them for that."

"Oh, I...had no idea that..." Cosmo trailed off.

"We have to rescue him. I promised him I'd be by his side no matter what, and I'm going to keep that promise."

"We'll save him, I know. You see, my amulet is a very special one, it allows me to see things sometimes, and I can see you and Shadow together in the future."

"Really? Well, thank you, Cosmo."

"Your welcome. Come on, let's go get something to eat, Cream said she made some pie."

"Does that girl know how to make anything but sweets? We're gonna need dental check ups when we get back."

Cosmo chuckled as she and Rouge left the room and headed for the kitchen.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was in the main room of the ship. It was a large room, and one wall was half a window, allowing him to gaze out into space.

He really wanted to be back on the Blue Typhoon with his friends. Yes, he called Sonic and his silly gang friends. They could get annoying sometimes, but they were the only people who accepted him for who he was. He wished one of them would appear. Calm and peaceful Cosmo, hard headed Knuckles, brainiac Tails, or even smart alec Sonic would be welcome. More strongly, he wished Rouge was here. She was the best friend he'd ever had, besides Maria.

'Rouge, guys, help me.' he thought desperately. He heard the swoosh of the sliding doors to the room, and the reflection in the window showed Eggman.

Shadow learned Mephiles had stolen the ship from Eggman, angering the docter, so he chased after the demon, only to be captured. Now he, Decoe, and Bocoe were on this ship too, trapped like Shadow was, only not as limited and heavily guarded as him.

"Well, Shadow, looks like your here after all." Eggman said.

"You didn't beleive it when Mephiles said, 'Shadow's here too, set up video cameras to keep him under watch.'?" Shadow muttered.

"Well, knowing Mephiles, he can say anything to further his goals. I thought maybe he was keeping an eye on me."

"Like you're much of a threat to him."

The two stared out the window in silence for a few minutes before Eggman spoke up.

"His plan is to use you for your Chaos Control abilities. If you don't do as he says, it will make him rather unhappy. I suggest you just listen to him for the time being until your little friends come to get you out."

"You both should know I don't give in that easily."

"That's a shame, because you should know I can be very dangerous when I get mad." Mephiles' deep voice spoke from out of nowhere. He appeared out of the floor next to Shadow. Shadow growled and stepped away from him a little.

"If you don't want me to hurt your little friends, I suggest you heed my orders."

"Hmph." Shadow turned his back on him and stared out the window. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Mephiles studying him carefully with his slitted green eyes.

He turned around and left the room, heading for the bedroom he'd been given to stay in, and it was the only place on this ship he felt somewhat safe from Mephiles and his ocular interogation.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Well, that's it for this chapter. R&R! 


	6. Chapter 6

Mephiles' ship approached a planet. The scanner had picked up a Chaos emerald in the area.

"We'll find this emerald, then locate the next and you'll warp us there." Mephiles explained.

Shadow said nothing.

The ship landed, and Shadow and Mephiles headed for the town.

Upon arriving, they were instantly swarmed with the planet's inhabitants, being told to buy this and that. They scattered instantly when Mephiles threatened to destroy all of them if they tried to sell one more thing to him.

The crowds were large, so large in fact, Shadow got seperated from Mephiles. He found this a good thing. At least now he could figure out a way to find his friends. He wandered around for a while, and arrived at a western style resturant.

He sat at a table, and a young armadillo walked up to him.

"Can I get you anything, sir?" he asked.

"Just water, thanks." Shadow answered. The armadillo boy nodded and left to get a glass of water.

Shadow stared off into space, trying to think of a way off this floating rock.

'I could just wait for Sonic and the others to show up. Their scanner will lead them here sooner or later. I'll just have to avoid Mephiles until then...'

A glass of water was set on the table.

"Thanks." he muttered.

"Your welcome." a familiar voice said. Shadow jumped in his skin, then looked up at the speaker. Mephiles had his arms crossed, and from the way his facial features were he would be smirking if he had a mouth.

"Enjoy your break?" he asked. Shadow glared.

"I'm not going to help you, now leave me alone!" Shadow growled.

"You take orders from me."

"I don't recall ever agreeing to take orders from you!"

Their arguing was attracting attention from other customers and the owners of the resturant.

"Look, unless you have a high pain tolerance level, which we both know you don't, you should come with me." Mephiles growled slowly in a threatening tone.

"You don't tell me what to do Mephiles!" Shadow growled in an equally threatening tone, standing.

The two glared madly at eachother, their quills standing on end.

"Glen, uh, go get security." the owner, a large raccoon, ordered nervously. The armadillo from earlier hesitantly got up, a 'Why me?' look on his face, and was about to head for the back.

"Sit down, Glen!" Mephiles ordered without even turning around. Glen squeaked, and plopped down right where he was and rolled into a quivering ball.

Shadow charged at Mephiles with a yell. He was instantly thrown back into a table. The couple sitting at the table ran from the building screaming.

Mephiles walked up to Shadow.

"You're beginning to stretch my last nerve." he growled.

"Well get over it!" Shadow yelled. He jumped up and ran at Mephiles. He crashed into him, and the two flew out the doors. They kicked and punched eachother on the ground for awhile, then Mephiles kicked Shadow in the stomach. Shadow rolled away from him onto his back, coughing and gasping for air.

Mephiles stood and glared at him. "Pathetic. You're truly pathetic."

Shadow glared up at him and bared his fangs. He got up and lunged at Mephiles. They collided, and began rolling down a hill behind them. As they were going, they rolled past a guy with a fishing pole.

"Hey you 2, I don't think it's safe to play like that on this hill!" he called after them.

"Play? What, is he blind?" Mephiles muttered.

Shadow caught a brief glimpse behind them. "No, but apparently we are!" he yelled. They looked behind them and saw a lake.

"WATER!" they both shouted. They fell into the lake.

If there's one thing both Shadow and Mephiles couldn't do, it was swim.

The world turned dark blue as Shadow and Mephiles flailed underwater in an attempt to get to the top.

As he was flailing, Shadow was a yellow glint.

'It's the Chaos emerald!' he thought. As best he could, he 'swam' towards the emerald. Slowly but surely he reached the emerald. He was so releived he released the rest of his air supply, sending a stream of bubbles up to the surface. He hoped Chaos Control would work if he said it in his mind.

'CHAOS CONTROL!" he screamed in his head. There was a flash of light, and Shadow's heart beat with hope. Before he warped, he felt a hand close around his ankle tightly.

The next thing he knew, he was on dry land, coughing up water, the yellow emerald held tightly in his hand. Someone grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet. He opened his eyes to see Mephiles holding him up.

"If you hadn't found the emerald, you would be dead right now." Mephiles growled. He reached for the emerald, but Shadow yanked his arm free and backed away.

"No way your getting your claws on this emerald!" he growled.

"Give it to me you little-"

"Shadow!" a familier voice yelled. There was a rush of wind, and Sonic stood between the hedgehog and the demon.

"What's it take to get away from you, pest?" Mephiles muttered.

"Quick Shadow, get back to the Blue Typhoon! I'll hold him off!" Sonic yelled.

Shadow started to run, but Mephiles sank into the ground, then appeared out of the ground in front of him. He grabbed Shadow's arm, created a vortex, and they both disappeared.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow and Mephiles were back on the ship. Mephiles yanked the emerald from Shadow's grasp, and started the ship. As they were leaving the planet's gravity field, the Blue Typhoon came flying after them. They fired missles at Mephiles' ship. The ship rocked with the impact. Mephiles growled, then turned to Shadow, who was staring out the window at the other ship.

"This is your cue, Shadow." Mephiles said. Shadow didn't ackoknowledge him, but he did cringe a little as he continued to stare out the window.

A clawed hand clamped onto his shoulder.

"Shadow, that's an order. Don't make me say it again..."

Shadow shuddered, and looked down. Mephiles held the Chaos emerald out to him. Shadow stared at it, then at the Blue Typhoon, then back again.

'I don't want to do it, but...'

The hand on his shoulder tightened, the claws starting to dig into his skin. He clenched his hands into shaking fists, and shut his eyes tightly.

He touched the wall of the ship with one hand, then the Chaos emerald with the other. The emerald started to glow brightly, as if it sensed what was about to happen.

Shadow opened his eyes again, then said with regret in his voice, "Chaos...Control!"

Mephiles' ship vanished in a bright flash of light.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

On the Blue Typhoon,

"What the-? Where'd they go?" Amy asked.

"He used Chaos Control," Tails stated. "But Mephiles can't use Chaos Control. The only person on that ship that could've done that would have to be-"

"Shadow!" everyone cried.

"But...why would Shadow help Mephiles?" Cosmo asked.

"He probably didn't want to do it Cosmo." Sonic answered.

"Yeah, no way Shadow would help Mephiles. He said he'd sooner die than help him." Rouge said.

"Good thing is, after a Chaos Control that big, Shadow's gonna need a little bit of rest." Sonic said.

"So if we can find Mephiles and get there fast, he won't be able to escape." Knuckles deduced.

"Exactly."

"Let's hurry. We need to find them and fast," Tails said, typing coordinates on the keyboard, "I can track Shadow's Chaos Control pattern, so we should be able to locate where he is or at least a place close to him. Ready team?"

"Yeah, let's go for it!' Sonic yelled. Everyone cheered as the ship was set on course.

xoxoxoxoxoxxoxo

Mephiles' ship appeared out of nowhere in another part of space.

Inside, Shadow collapsed to his hands and knees with exaustion. Mephiles stood over him, Chaos emerald in hand.

"Good work." he said.

"Don't...expect me to...Chaos control everytime you can't fight back." Shadow said between breathes. Then he smirked, showing his fangs. "Chaos controling exausts me, so I can't do it everytime you chicken out."

Shadow knew he'd really crossed the line this time. Mephiles lunged at him, pinned his wrists to the wall, and glared menacingly at him.

"I'd watch my tounge if I were you and wanted to keep it. You don't need it to Chaos Control, as you've proven." Mephiles growled.

"If I'm annoying you so much, what's stopping you?" Shadow asked.

"Because Shadow, you can't scream without a tongue."

Shadow didn't like where this was going. He frantically tried to escape, but Mephiles was just too strong. Mephiles put his forehead against Shadow's, and his eyes glew red. Shadow screamed as electric pain shot throughout his body, and his screams echoed off into space...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Poor Shadow, wants to do the right thing but can't. Hope you like my story so far! R&R! 


	7. Chapter 7

Mephiles' ship was calmly drifting through space. Mephiles himself was walking down one of the many hallways on the ship. He stopped at one door and knocked.

No answer. He tried the doorknob but it was locked. He chuckled, pushed some buttons on a keypad next to the door, and the door unlocked and he stepped inside the room.

Shadow sat Indian style on the floor on the opposite side of the room, staring at the floor, not once looking up at Mephiles as he walked up to him.

"There's a bed right over there, ya know." Mephiles pointed out, gesturing at a bed in the corner of the room.

Shadow glared up at him.

"I don't trust anything in here except the floor cuz you have to stand on it too." he growled as he got to his feet. He turned his back to Mephiles, crossed his arms, and stared out the barred window into space.

Mephiles chuckled. "What? You don't trust me?" he asked with fake hurt in his voice.

"No, I don't. And I'm not going to sleep with YOU around."

"And why's that?"

"Cuz the last time I did, you-!" Shadow stopped. He wasn't helping himself by giving Mephiles ideas. Mephiles laughed and walked to stand directly behind Shadow.

"Well, Shadow, you have to fall asleep sometime, and when you do, maybe, just maybe, I'll be waiting in the darkness for you. Heh heh heh..." he chuckled darkly, setting Shadow on edge, but Shadow was determined not to let his fear show.

"Just shut up and get out." he ordered, trying to sound brave, but his voice rattled. Mephiles snickered a little, and stood right beside Shadow.

"I beleive this is my ship, so the only one giving orders around here will be me. Unless you think you have the power to defeat me. If so, bring it on."

He placed a hand on Shadow's shoulder, and Shadow felt the claws dig into his skin a little. An involuntary shudder ran through him. Mephiles chuckled.

"I thought not. We'll be landing soon. Be prepared when I call you." he said, letting go and heading out the door, shutting it behind him.

Shadow sat down in a wooden chair provided for him, put his elbow on the wooden table, and rested his head in his hand. He reached into his head quills and pulled something out, and stared at it.

It was a small, clear, heart shaped crystal. It had been given to him by Sonic and the others for, as they'd put it, 'being a good friend', before this whole Mephiles trouble started.

Shadow closed his hand around the crystal and closed his eyes. He missed his friends. No matter how many times they'd fought in the past, Sonic and co. had still wanted to be his friends. Even Cosmo, despite his past attempt to kill her for being an unwilling Metarex spy.

He didn't care who it was, Shadow wanted one of them, anyone, to appear and tell him everything would be alright, and that they would get him out of here. Why did he always have to be the one people were after?

'GUN wanted to get rid of me, Eggman wanted to use me, Black Doom wanted to use or destroy me, and now Mephiles wants to use my powers. Why is it always me?' he thought with a mental sigh.

A knock on the door snapped him back to reality.

"Time to go, Shadow." Mephiles called through the door.

Shadow sighed, put the crystal back in his quills, and headed for the door.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow and Mephiles stepped on the ground of the new planet.

"We're looking for the purple emerald. Ask around, and if you find it, don't worry. I'll know." Mephiles ordered.

"How do you know what it looks like? And how will you know if I've found it?" Shadow asked suspiciously.

"Unlike your merry band of fools, my technology is good enough to give me a better description of what I'm looking for. As for how I'll know when you've found it," Mephiles laughed and melted into his mist form. He flew around Shadow, his laugh seemed to echo. "I have my reasons." He flew off.

Shadow shook his head to clear it, and headed off to find the emerald, or someone who might know about it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow sighed angrily as he walked through the small town he'd discovered. He'd asked 20 people about the emerald, and he either got no's, or they would just say he should forget about it and then they'd run off.

'What's everyone so nervous about?' he wondered as he walked up to a young fox woman.

"Hey miss, have seen a large purple emerald anywhere? Or heard something?" he asked. The annoyance in his voice must've given away the fact he'd been at this all day, because the lady gave a wry smile.

"Yes. But I really shouldn't tell you. You should just-"

"Don't say forget about it. I've been hearing that all day, and it's really starting to tick me off. So if you know where it is, jsut tell me so I can find it and give it to the idiot who wants it!"

The lady seemed stunned at first, then nodded. "Alright, follow me. By the way, my name is Minga."

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Minga led Shadow along a path through a dense forest, it was evening now. The path went on for about 20 minutes, then they came to a stop on a small cliff. Minga pointed, and Shadow directed his gaze to where she was pointing.

There was a small base camp, made up of a large tent surrounded by several smaller tents, and lamps gave light to the area.

"See that camp? It belongs to Crys, the jewel bandit. He leads a group of theives that terrorise our town. That's why no one would tell you where he was. They were afraid he would send his men to attack us. He has the emerald you spoke of. The only way you'll get it is to trade him something or fight him for it." Minga explained. Shadow nodded. A voice spoke up, startling both of them.

"I see you found the emerald. I must say I'm surprised." Mephiles materialized behind them. They turned to face him.

"Who are you?" Minga demanded.

"I'm Mephiles the Dark. That bandit has something I want."

"Oh, you must be the idiot Shadow said wanted the emerald."

Shadow was making a cutting motion across his neck, signaling her to shut up, but she didn't notice him. His punching her shoulder got her attention.

"Ow! What?" she yelled angrily, rubbing her shoulder.

Shadow growled, rolled his eyes, and shook his head as he crossed his arms.

"Idiot am I?" Mephiles asked with annoyance, glaring at Shadow, who returned the glare.

"Nevermind, I'll discuss this with you later. For now, let's focus on getting the emerald." Mephiles said as he walked to the edge of the cliff and stared at the camp.

"I say we just go in and steal it."

"No, you can't. You'll bring death to the village!" Minga exclaimed.

"Why would I care about your pathetic town?"

"Look, she helped us find the emerald, the least you could do is not destroy them." Shadow retorted.

"No, the least I could do is nothing."

"Look demon! I'm not gonna stand by and let you get them destroyed!"

"Well that's just how the cookie crumbles."

"You are unbeleivable!"

"So sue me!"

"Guys!" Minga exclaimed. They looked at her.

"Look, I don't know what the story is behind you two. But I will not let my home get destroyed when there's something I can do about it. Just find something to trade him. He likes crystals, and there are plenty of them around."

"We don't have time to search for a stupid crystal!" Mephiles growled.

"He does have a point." Shadow muttered. Suddenly, an idea hit him. He looked at Mephiles with a smirk. Mephiles noticed and glared.

"What?"

"We don't have to search for a crystal."

"Huh?" both Mephiles and Minga asked. Shadow continued to smirk. Mephiles was confused and scratched his head, when suddenly his eyes widened as what Shadow meant hit him. His eyes instantly narrowed and glew a light shade of red.

"NO! No, no, no! I know what you're thinking! No! Absolutely not! Nothing you say will get me to do that!"

"You won't get that Chaos emerald." Shadow snickered. Mephiles growled.

"I don't get it." Minga mumbled in confusion.

"Why look for a crystal when we have a guy covered in them right here?" Shadow asked, still smirking. Minga nodded in realization. They both looked at Mephiles.

"Are you 2 daft? I said no!" Mephiles exclaimed, backing up slightly. He realized being near the edge was not his best idea.

"Do you want that emerald or not?" Shadow asked, annoyance finally seeping into his voice.

"Grrr...fine! But you mention this to no one!"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow looked at the crystal in his hand. It was the size of a Chaos emerald, but it was black. This emerald was created with a few (ok, alot!) of Mephiles' crystalline quills, and with some help from Eggman, they fuzed them together to create the black gem Shadow now held.

"Hmm...black. I would've thought they would make blue." he said.

"Shut up! You better hope this works, or I'm gonna yank YOUR quills out!" Mephiles growled furiously, rubbing at the spot on his head where the quills had come from. He was truly surprized he didn't have a bald spot there now. Apparently, his quills could grow back immediatly, something even he didn't know. But he didn't care, pulling them out had still hurt. He could tell Shadow enjoyed 'helping' with the task.

"If this doesn't get the emerald from Crys, I don't know what will." Minga murmured. She'd never seen a gem so big in her 16 years.

"Let's go." Shadow headed for the path he'd taken earlier. Minga and Mephiles followed.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Getting into the camp hadn't been hard. When they were about 10 feet away, they were surrounded by a group of raccoons.

They now stood in the main tent, looking at a muscular yellow lion with green eyes. He glared at them.

"Well, are you just gonna sit there and stare at us or are you gonna ask us what we want?" Mephiles snapped. Minga elbowed him in the ribs.

"Mister Crys, forgive us for disturbing you so late. But we wished to speak with you, and offer a trade." she said with a bow.

"A trade you say? For what?" Crys asked in a gruff voice, a voice used to giving orders.

"Please allow my friends Shadow and Mephiles to explain." Minga stepped back, then pushed Shadow and Mephiles forward a little.

"We beleive you have something of ours. A large purple emerald, about this big?" Shadow started.

"You must mean this." Crys pulled out the Chaos emerald. "It appeared one day. I won't trade it away easily. What have you to offer?"

Shadow pulled out the black crystal. "This."

Crys looked interested. "Let me see it."

Shadow tossed him the gem. Catching it easily, Crys examined it slowly and carefully, turning around in his hand.

"Tell you what. Get about 3 more of these, and I'll give you this emerald."

"Ok." Shadow answered quickly, smirking at Mephiles. Mephiles growled.

"Forget this!" he shouted. He summoned an army of shadows, and ordered them to attack.

A full scale battle started, most of Crys' minions taking on the shadows, while Mephiles and Shadow took on the ring leader. Minga, who happened to be a highly skilled karate expert, took on any who dared to attack her.

Most of the bandits were defeated by the shadows, Minga took care of any stragglers. Mephiles and Shadow had a harder time fighting Crys.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow yelled, sending spears of Chaos energy at the lion. Mephiles sent a purple orb of energy at the lion, but both attacks only knocked him back. Crys roared, charged at the duo. They jumped out of the way in perfect sync. However, Crys turned and ran into Shadow, sending him flying into Mephiles, and both hit a stack of crates that toppled on them. Shadow shoved the boxes off of him with a growl.

"That's it! Now I'm mad!"

He took off his Inhibitor rings, and he felt the huge burst of energy. He glew with a golden light. He spread his arms, and an orb of energy appeared around him. Then he raised his arms swiftly, and the orb expanded, the very ground shaking with the amount of power being unleashed. There was a bright flash of golden light, and the entire place blew. From a distance, all one could see was a giant ray of golden light shooting up into the sky. Then it thined out and vanished.

A few feet away, Shadow, Minga, and Mephiles appeared in a flash of white light. Shadow had his rings back on, and the purple emerald was in his hand.

"That was cool!" Minga exclaimed excitedly. "That was INCREDIBLE! You actually beat Crys! No one beats Crys! That was amazing!"

"Uh, thanks I guess." Shadow muttered

"Eh, it was ok." Mephiles said in a bored tone. Secretly though, he was a little impressed.

'If only he would join me. Then his powers would be used for something worthwhile.' he thought as he looked at Shadow.

Shadow stared back, before a wave of exaustion hit him. He fell to one knee as he panted.

"Shadow, are you ok?" Minga asked worriedly, kneeling beside him.

"He'll be fine. Now, it's time for us to go. Move aside girl." Mephiles ordered, shoving the fox aside. He took the emerald from Shadow, and reached for Shadow. But Minga got in the way.

"He needs rest. You may stay at my house." Minga sounded more like she was giving orders than suggestions. Mephiles growled.

"I refuse to take orders from a little girl."

"And I refuse to let Shadow go without rest!"

"He'll get rest on my ship! Now get out of my way!"

"No!"

"...I'll be fine..." Shadow finally spoke up. He looked up. His voice had determination in it, but his ruby red eyes held extreme fatigue.

"But..." Minga trailed off, worry in her blue eyes. Shadow slowly stood, barely managing to stand.

"I'll be fine." he murmured again, then turned to Mephiles. "Let's go."

Mephiles chuckled, and created a purple vortex around Shadow and himself. Before he disappeared, Shadow smiled at Minga.

"Bye..." he murmured. Then he vanished.

"Bye, Shadow the Hedgehog." Minga murmured. Miles away, she heard the start of an engine, and saw Mephiles' ship take off and disappear into the sky.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was resting in a glass chamber Eggman had set up for him. He could feel it restoring his energy and Chaos energy quickly, but he half wished it wasn't. As soon as he was rested, he knew Mephiles would make him use Chaos Control to get to the next Chaos emerald.

As fast as Mephiles was finding the emeralds, Shadow wondered why they'd sent them into space in the first place. They might as well have given them to him. He wondered if Sonic and co. had gotten any emeralds. Even one was better than none.

'Sonic, Rouge...I hope you and the others are doing well.' he thought.

He wanted to go back to the Blue Typhoon. Back where his friends were, where he could be himself.

'I want to go home!' he thought despairingly.

'This is your home now.' a voice spoke in his head. Shadow's eyes snapped open. That was Mephiles.

'Where are you?' he thought.

'Don't worry, I'm not in your head...yet.'

Shadow shivered slightly. 'What do you mean, 'this is my home'?'

'You're not going anywhere. You might as well get used to this ship, if not, I can keep you locked in a nice dark room, and I'll make sure to visit everyday.'

'You can't keep me here forever! When I get out of here, your ship will be little more than scrap metal!'

'We'll see about that. In the mean time, rest well. Your Chaos Controlling ability will be needed after you get out.'

'I'm not helping you!'

'I think you'll change your mind, once you learn the alternitive...'

'What do you mean?'

'You'll find out...'

After a few minutes of silence, Shadow figured Mephiles was gone.

The conversation discomforted him. Whatever the alternitive to not Chaos Controlling was, he knew it would be painful. And the thought of being locked in a dark room with only Mephiles 'visiting' him...

He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he secretly feared Mephiles. He had a pretty good idea Mephiles knew, but that didn't mean he would admit it.

Shadow closed his eyes, he needed rest. He fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I'd say I did pretty well on this chapter! I'm not good at multiple people fighting scenes, but I did my best. I think I did pretty well for me at the part with Shadow unleashing his ultimate power! Minga might reappear in later chapters, depending on if she'll have a major role or not. Well, R&R!


	8. Chapter 8

The glass pod opened, and Shadow sat up, then got to his feet.

"How are you feeling Shadow?" Dr. Eggman asked.

"Better. Thanks Docter." Shadow replied. Eggman may be one of his enemies, but he trusted the docter more than Mephiles on this ship.

"Good. You're gonna need your strength. Mephiles has already located the next Chaos emerald."

"How is he finding them so fast? Even the Metarex had a hard time finding them."

"I can't figure that out myself. But I think it has something to do with his Chaos energy, he's drawn to them. Like you."

"We're nothing alike." Shadow headed for the door.

"Just be careful Shadow. Mephiles isn't afraid to get his claws dirty to help himself." Eggman warned.

"I'll be fine." Shadow left the room.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Rouge was sitting in Tails' lab on the BT. He'd asked her to come because he made a new invention that would help them contact Shadow.

Tails came over from his work table, a small, circular device in hand.

"It's a teleporation device. It should take you to wherever Shadow is. Just be careful." he explained.

"No worries, kid. I'm always careful." Rouge said with a laugh. She took the device from Tails, pushed the button on it, then vanished.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was walking down the hall towards his room, when suddenly Rouge appeared out of thin air.

"Rouge? What the-? How'd you-? What're you doing here?" Shadow stammered in shock. He looked around, then grabbed Rouge and pulled her into his room.

"What're you doing here? How'd you even get here?" he asked after shutting and locking the door.

"Tails made this little doo dad that teleports you where ever its set to. Are you ok? I've been really worried about you." Rouge asked.

"I'm fine. But you shouldn't be here. If Mephiles finds you here, he's not gonna be too happy."

"Who cares. So, any luck with the Chaos emeralds?"

"We've already got 2, and Mephiles found the third. Why'd we even bother sending them into space? As fast as he's finding them we might as well have GIVEN them to him."

"Two? Man, all we have is one. How do we get the emeralds from Mephiles?"

Shadow thought for a minute, then spoke. "Since you're here, you can take them back to the Blue Typhoon."

"What about you, Shadow? You're coming with me, right?"

"We'll see. We have to get them without tipping Mephiles off. Come on."

The twosome left the room and quietly and carefully made their way to the room where the emeralds were kept.

The yellow and purple emeralds were in a glass chamber, set in slots.

"Alright, let's see what we have to do to open this little thing." Rouge murmured, stepping up to the panel in front of the chamber. It had millions of buttons on it.

Rouge started pushing them in a steady manner, her gaze focused intensly on the small screen connected to the panel. After 5 nerve racking minutes, Rouge let a triumphant sigh.

A small door in the glass slid open. Shadow reached in and took the emeralds from their slots.

"Alright, we got them. Now let's get back to Sonic and the others." Rouge said, pulling out the teleporting device.

Shadow nodded, and was about to speak but his right ear twitched at the sound of someone softly clearing their throat. He looked toward the door way, and froze.

Mephiles was leaning against the frame of the door, quietly glaring at the two.

"Uh oh..." Rouge muttered, stepping back a little. Shadow handed her the emeralds and pushed her behind him, standing in front of her protectively.

"I see I have to put a few guards around here." Mephiles growled as he started towards them. Shadow pushed Rouge back as he stepped backward.

"Back off demon." Shadow growled. Mephiles scoffed, then summoned 10 shadows and sent them at the hedgehog and bat.

"Rouge get out of here!" Shadow ordered as he sent Chaos Spears at them, destroying a few, but 3 more rose in their place.

"Not without you I'm not!" Rouge retorted.

"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to leave."

They jumped out of the shadows' path, landing opposite of eachother.

"Rouge, don't make me tell you again!" Shadow yelled. Mephiles appeared behind him and trapped him in a chokehold.

"Get out of here now!" he shouted.

Rouge stared at him in despair, then, before the shadows could grab her, she pushed the teleporting button and vanished, the Chaos emeralds along with her.

Shadow smirked, then tried to break free from Mephiles. Mephiles tightened his grip, and Shadow felt himself losing conciousness.

'No, can't lose conciousness...Can't...breath...M-Mephiles...st...' Shadow fought the darkness clawing at the edges of his vision, but it was no use. As the world started to go dark, he heard Mephiles speak.

"Looks like you need to be taught a lesson, and I'll be more than happy to do the teaching..."

Then all went black.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Rouge reappeared in Tails' lab. The fox jumped at her sudden appearance, then began asked questions.

"What happened? Did you find Shadow? Where'd you get those Chaos emeralds?"

"One question at a time, kid." Rouge snapped, then noticed Sonic and Cosmo in the room.

"You ok?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I don't know about Shadow. I found him, we got the emeralds, then Mephiles attacked us and Shadow told me to leave while he was fighting Mephiles and his shadows."

"I hope he's ok." Tails said worriedly.

"I'm sure he's fine, Tails." Cosmo assured him.

"Yeah, it's Shadow after all. What could happen?" Sonic said with a laugh. But everyone knew he was worried too, because his laugh didn't have the joking tone it usually did.

'Shadow...' Rouge thought in an emotional voice.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was not fine. He was anything but fine.

He was sitting in the corner of a pitch black room. He'd woken up in here a few minutes ago, but at first he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not.

He looked around, but he couldn't even see the wall he was leaning against. He thought back to his mental conversation with Mephiles yesterday.

'If not, I can keep you locked in a nice dark room, and I'll make sure to visit everyday...'

'So this is what he meant...' Shadow thought. He stood. He wasn't gonna sit in here and wait to be let out. He felt along the wall, reached another wall, felt along it, and finally found a door. He found the door knob, but it refused to turn.

He pounded on the door. "Hey! Let me out of here!" he shouted to anyone who would listen. A spine chilling laugh answered.

"What's the matter Shadow? Can't take the dark?" Mephiles snickered from somewhere in the room. Shadow turned his back to the wall and looked around the room, even though he knew it was pointless. He couldn't see his hand right in front of his face in here.

"Where are you?" he yelled. Mephiles' laugh echoed around the room and in Shadow's ears.

"Do you really think keeping your back to the wall will keep you safe? I can attack you anywhere, and you wouldn't even know until it was too late." Mephiles asked.

"Shut up!"

"My my, grumpy aren't we?"

Shadow growled and turned around, trying to yank open the door. He heard a chuckle behind him, then felt something grab him from behind and pull him away from the door towards the center of the room.

"Let me go!" he shouted at whoever had hold of him. They didn't release him, but they stopped. He heard another laugh, then an icy hand grabbed his jaw and and tilted it upward. Even in this pitch darkness he could see the slitted green eyes and glowing red sclera.

"You won't be going anywhere right now Shadow. So get comfy, you have a long lesson to be taught." Mephiles growled.

"You don't scare me, you know." Shadow retorted, hoping no one could hear his heart pounding like a flat tire on a spinning rim.

"Your eyes betray you."

"Sh-shut up!"

Mephiles chuckled, and Shadow felt the claws cutting in to his muzzle. He struggled to break free, but whoever had hold of him, most likely a shadow, had a strong grip.

Mephiles' eyes were inches from his, then he felt claws on his side, before they slashed upwards. He fought to keep himself from screaming, but the scream came anyway. He hardly had time to finish his scream before claws raked down his arm, earning another earsplitting scream from him. He fought against the hold of the shadow but its grip was solid.

He kept fighting, but he soon gave up and settled for screaming and crying, yes crying, and every once and while beg for mercy when his breaking point came close to snapping.

The last thing he remembered hearing was his own screams, and wicked laughter...

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Bet that's gonna hurt in the morning, huh? R&R!

BTW, next chapter I'm gonna start adding an Eggman side of the chapter every once in a while, to show Eggman might be an 'evil genious', but he can have a caring side. 


	9. Chapter 9

Shadow let out a sigh as he fell back on the bed, cringing slightly when he felt the slight sting from his cuts.

He'd been in his room since he'd woken up. He'd passed out in the dark room, the pain of the gashes Mephiles had slashed into him too much to bear. He was thankful Eggman was here; Mephiles would never treat his injuries.

Shadow crossed his arms behind his head. He appeared to be alone, but he knew the shadows were watching. He could feel them watching his every move, just waiting for him to mess up so they could report it to their master. Shadow had more restrictions than when he'd first arrived.

Now he couldn't leave his room without an escort, when they got the next emeralds and reclaimed the others, he wasn't allowed anywhere near them, and he was absolutely not allowed to speak with Rouge, Sonic, or any of the Typhoon crew for that matter. If he did, he would, quote, 'regret it with all of his being'.

Shadow grumbled. He'd been in here for a day and a half, or at least he thought he had, in space it was hard to tell, and he was bored and starting to feel the effects of hunger. He got up and walked over to the window, watching the stars pass slowly by. He heard a low chuckle, and shot a quick glance at the window, and saw Mephiles.

The demon stood beside Shadow, an amuzed gleam in his eyes. Shadow tried to ignore him, but it was hard to ignore the one thing he hated as much as he feared.

"Getting bored are we?" Mephiles asked.

"No, now leave me alone." Shadow retorted.

"Well, pardon me for worrying about the well being of my rebellious captive."

"I'm not your captive."

"Are you trapped on this ship?"

Shadow growled. "A captive can't control their situation."

"And you can?" Mephiles asked skeptically.

Shadow growled but didn't answer. Mephiles chuckled.

"You've been in here for a while, you must be getting hungry. Hm?" the demon asked.

"No." Shadow muttered. At that moment, his stomach chose to growl. His muzzle turned a light shade of pink. Mephiles laughed. He held his hand up and twirled it a little, purple mist swirling around it, and a shiny red apple appeared in it. He held it out to Shadow.

"Go ahead and eat." he snickered.

It took all Shadow had not to take it. He wasn't going to give Mephiles the idea he depended on the demon. He turned his back to the demon.

"I don't want it." he growled. Mephiles chuckled, set the apple on the table, and sank into the floor, a faint black mist left in his place before it dissipated.

A few minutes passed, then Shadow turned around with a grumble and snatched the apple from the table. As he bit into it, he heard a faint chuckle. His quills stood on end as he continued to eat.

xoxoxoxoxo

"Are you sure you wanna go back?" Tails asked Rouge.

Said bat nodded. "I have to know he's ok." she said.

"Ok, just be careful." Sonic warned.

"No problem. I'll be fine." Rouge gave a thumbs up. She took the Teleportar.

"I'll work on making another one, that way Shadow'll be able to come back with you." Tails stated. Rouge nodded, then pushed the button and teleported.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was staring out the window again when he saw Rouge appear out of nowhere by the reflection in the window. He spun around.

"Rouge! Would you stop doing that?" he whispered fiercely.

"Sorry, I was worried about you. Are you ok?" Rouge asked.

Shadow nodded, thankful the gauze covering his injuries was the same color of his fur.

"I'm fine. But I want you to be careful with this teleporting thing. If you got caught, I'd feel awful if something bad happened to you."

"No worries, I can get out of here in a flash. So, how's your search for the Chaos emeralds?"

"Ok, I guess. I think we're-"

The sound of the door lock unlocking cut him off. He whipped around and looked at the door, then back around to look at Rouge. He had a nervous look in his eyes.

"You need to go. NOW!" he whispered fiercely.

"But Shadow-"

"Now Rouge! Please go!"

"But I-"

Shadow gripped Rouge's arms, hard.

"Please Rouge, please go. Do it for me."

There was fear in his eyes now. It wasn't fear for himself, Rouge realized, but fear for her own well being.

"O-ok, I'm going." she stammered. She pulled out the Teleportar.

"Shadow...please be ok." she whispered, then pushed the button. She vanished.

Shadow hastily ran back to the window, and assumed his normal appearance as the door opened. He turned halfway to glare at Mephiles.

Mephiles returned the glare as he shut and locked the door behind him.

"Who were you talking to?" the demon asked.

"What're you talking about?" Shadow asked, trying to keep his tone gruff yet confused.

"I heard you talking to someone. Who was it?"

"I haven't talked to anyone besides you in the last day and a half."

Mephiles shook his head, then snapped his fingers. 2 shadows were created, and they grabbed Shadow's arms and forced him to his knees, forcing him to bow his head.

"You're a dreadful liar Shadow. Now tell me, who was in here besides you?" Mephiles demanded.

Shadow didn't respond, keeping his head bowed. He heard Mephiles stepping closer to him. A clawed hand grabbed his jaw and tilted it upward so he was looking into Mephiles' furious green eyes. His other hand was poised for instant use, the claws glinting dangerously.

"One last chance, who was it?" he asked.

Shadow's eye openly twitched, but he said nothing, he knew how it went. Lie, get punished, tell the truth, get punished, it wouldn't matter what he said.

Mephiles growled, then slashed the obsidian hedgehog across his cheek, earning an earsplitting scream from him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Outside in the hallway, Eggman had the unfortunant privledge of walking by the door just as Shadow screamed. He could hear Mephiles shouting furiously.

"Who were you talking to?"

The only answer he received was another agonized scream, which was followed by another, then another, and another.

Eggman shuddered and continued to briskly walk down the hall towards his lab. There were a few more screams before complete silence.

"Well, hello Docter." Mephiles called from behind.

Eggman stopped and turned around.

"I'd like for you to treat Shadow's injuries when he stops by." Mephiles said.

"Ok, I'll get things ready." Eggman sighed. He was used to this.

"He's so stubborn. Even with my, 'persuasion', he won't talk." Mephiles held up one of his hands and looked at it with amuzement. Eggman could see the claws painted with fresh blood, and inwardly shuddered.

"Well that's just how he is." he grumbled, then turned around and continued to walk.

"I know, that's what makes this all the more fun." Mephiles' laugh echoed down the hall.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Eggman entered his lab, where Decoe and Bocoe were fidgeting around.

"Docter, was that...Shadow we just heard?" Decoe asked.

"Yes." Eggman sat down at his computer. Unbeknownst to Shadow or Mephiles, he'd set up a secret camera. So when Shadow got attacked, he would be able to know what supplies he would need to treat the hedgehog's injuries.

Shadow's room came on the screen. Shadow was kneeling on the floor, as if he couldn't quite get up, clutching his right arm, a pained expression on his face, with his eyes shut tightly.

'More gauze...some rags...and I think that should do it...' the Docter thought, shutting off the camera.

A few minutes later, he heard stumbling footsteps, and didn't have to turn to see who it was.

"Come in Shadow." he called. He turned toward the doorway, and saw the injured hedgehog. A shadow was with him, holding his arm to help him stay upwright. Eggman could see Shadow, even in his injured state, casting a hateful glare at the shadow.

"Take a seat, I'll be right with you." Eggman said, walking over to the supply cabinet. Shadow shook his arm free.

"I don't need any help, especially from the likes of you." he seethed, glaring at the shadow. He got about halfway to the examination table before falling to his knees. Decoe, Bocoe, and the shadow came over and helped him over to the table. As he sat down, Eggman walked over with some gauze, cleaning alcohol, and washrags. He got to work.

No one said anything. Another restriction shared by both Shadow and Eggman was, unless it involved Shadow's health or Shadow sensing a Chaos emerald, they weren't allowed to say a word to eachother without Mephiles' say so.

Eggman finished treating the cut on Shadow's face, then started on the arm that hadn't been injured the first time. As he was wrapping gauze around the hedgehog's arm, he locked eyes with Shadow for a second.

Fear, cold and evident, was all that shown in the red eyes.

Eggman finished wrapping the arm and started putting the supplies up. He looked back at Shadow.

The red eyes were fearful, begging him for a solution or anything that would offer some comfort. But under the watchful eye of the shadow, he was powerless to say anything not under health or Chaos emerald.

"If something starts bleeding, come back." was all he said, putting as much comfort in the words as he could without rousing suspicion.

Shadow nodded and stood. He and the shadow headed for the door. When they reached it, Shadow turned back and opened his mouth as if to say something, then thought better of it and left.

Eggman sighed and finished putting his stuff away. He walked past the table, he saw something written in red.

'Get me out.'

'Get me out? Does he mean out of his room?' Eggman thought. How was he supposed to do that? Mephiles wouldn't just let him out without a good reason. Eggman thought for a minute, then got an idea.

'It's worth a shot...' he thought as he left to find Mephiles.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

He found Mephiles in the observation room.

"Ah, hello Docter. I trust Shadow is doing well?" Mephiles asked.

"Well enough." Eggman answered. "I've been thinking..."

"Stop the presses." Mephiles snickered.

"Shadow needs to get out of his room more often."

Mephiles growled and glared at the Docter. "Why?"

"I don't think it's good for him to stay cooped up in there all day."

"There's a reason for that, and until I trust him enough to let him wander about, and until he tells me who he was talking to and what about, he's not to set foot outside that room without me or a shadow present with him."

Eggman said nothing. He knew he'd lost this argument. Shadow wasn't going to get out of that room anytime soon.

Mephiles looked at him curiously.

"Who gave you that suggestion?" he asked.

"Nobody." Eggman answered quickly. Too quickly unfortunantly.

"Did Shadow say anything about this?" Mephiles asked slowly.

"Of course not. He didn't say a word. I just thought of it."

Technically it was true. Shadow hadn't spoken at all.

"If you don't beleive me, ask those annoying shadows of yours. Not a word was spoken."

Mephiles sudied him for a minute, then left the room.

Eggman had a feeling he'd be seeing Shadow again sometime soon...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow sighed. He was in his room again, bored out of his freakin' mind. He needed SOMETHING to do, anything.

He heard a knock on the door.

"Why bother knocking?" he called from the bed. The door opened and Mephiles stepped in, closing and locking the door behind him.

"What now?" Shadow asked, getting up. He flinched at the sting of his cuts.

"The Docter made a most peculier suggestion." Mephiles said, a slight growl in his tone. "He said I should let you walk around freely."

"Ok, and your answer was?" Shadow asked, trying to hide his anxiety.

"My answer was no. But what I'm wondering is, where would he get an idea like that?"

"How would I know?"

"Because you talked to him an hour ago."

Mephiles stepped toward him menacingly. "Did you say anything during your last visit out of the limits I gave you?"

"N-no." Shadow stammered, stepping back.

Mephiles warped behind him and grabbed his upper arms.

"Are you sure about that?" Mephiles asked in a whisper.

Shadow trembled as he nodded. "I never said a word."

"Unfortunantly, I don't beleive you. Breaking rules on my ship leads to very...painful consequences."

If Shadow wasn't trembling before, he was now. He felt claws brush his cheek.

"Please don't kill me..." he begged in a whisper.

"Oh I won't kill you," Mephiles murmured with a chuckle, "But I will teach you."

Claws sank into Shadow's back, and he screamed in agony. They sliced across his back, before being ripped out, earning 2 more high pitched screams from his throat.

He pulled away from Mephiles, but 2 shadows appeared out of thin air behind him, grabbed him, and pinned him against the wall. Mephiles slowly walked up to him.

"Just hold still, it'll be over before you know it." Mephiles held up his claws.

Shadow let out a whimper as Mephiles rested his claws on his slashed cheek.

"This might sting a bit." the demon chuckled.

Shadow felt the claws sink into his cheek, and felt the cut opened up again at an agonizingly slow pace. He felt the blood seeping out of the wound, and grinded his teeth as he fought himself to keep from screaming. It worked...until Mephiles started on his arm.

He unwound the gauze around Shadow's right arm, and one of the shadows pinned it to the wall.

"Mephiles...please..." Shadow begged in a sob.

Mephiles chuckled, then began cutting into Shadow's arm.

Shadow's screams could be heard on the other side of the ship.

In his lab, Eggman stopped his work for a minute, then sighed. He knew there was nothing he could do.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I think I might've gotten a little dark in this chapter, but that's why this story is under Angst. R&R!

The italic lines are from the song, Concrete Angel by Martina McBride, some of you might know it well. For those of you who do, don't worry, Shadow won't die. It just means it'll be too late for anyone to help protect Shadow from Mephiles. 


	10. Chapter 10

Rouge appeared in the air ducts of Mephiles' ship.

"Ugh, why'd I have to pick this part of the ship?" she whispered in disgust as she wiped a cobweb from her ear. She silently crawled over to an opening in the vent, and looked down.

The opening was in one of the hallways of the ship. She pulled off the vent, and silently dropped into the hallway, landing with a barely audible tap.

She headed down the hall in one direction, trying to find anything familier that would tell her if she was in the hallway Shadow's room was located.

She put an ear to one door, and listened intently. After a minute, she heard a familier grumble, and a smile spread across her face. She knocked on the door.

"Not in the mood, Mephiles!" she heard Shadow shout.

"Shadow, keep it down! It's me!" she called back quietly. There was a long pause, then the door slowly opened. A red eye peered from around the door. Then the door opened all the way, and Shadow grabbed Rouge and yanked her into the room, shutting the door and locking it.

"Rouge, are you crazy? Do you remember how close we were to getting caught last time?" he asked.

"I was worried. I wanted to make sure you were ok." Rouge put a hand on Shadow's right arm. Shadow hissed and pulled away slightly.

"What's wrong?" Rouge asked. She looked carefully at his arm, and saw there was a black gauze wrapped around it.

"Shadow, what happened?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Shadow answered gruffly.

Rouge gave him a stern look, then took his arm and pulled the gauze down to his wrist. She gasped and her eyes widened at the sight of the grusome slashes.

"Shadow, what happened?" she asked breathlessly.

"Nothing." Shadow pulled his arm away and pushed the gauze back up.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, you better not be lying to me. Now tell me what happened."

"Mephiles wasn't too happy you were here. Which he expressed rather harshly."

"And I'm not happy now." a voice growled from behind. They whipped around to see Mephiles glaring at them.

"I really need to start keeping my ears open." Rouge muttered. Shadow pushed her behind him protectively.

"Did you not learn your lesson last time? I thought I was quite clear. Perhaps I need to be more specific. What a fortunant turn of events your little girlfriend's here." Mephiles chuckled, stepping toward them.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Shadow growled.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Rouge exclaimed. Despite their outcries, they couldn't help but look at eachother. A blush rose to their cheeks as they looked away.

"Yeah, uh huh, sure. If she means nothing to you, step aside." Mephiles ordered, stepping closer.

"I never said that. Now back off." Shadow growled.

"Make me."

What happened next was a blur. Shadow charged at Mephiles, and quicker than the blink of an eye, Mephiles flung him to the floor.

Rouge gasped, and Mephiles turned towards her. He stepped towards her. Shadow jumped to his feet and ran at him. He grabbed the demon's arm, but Mephiles whipped around and socked him in the gut, then sent him flying into the wall.

"Shadow!" Rouge cried. Then she gasped and backed into the wall behind her as Mephiles slowly turned towards her with a glare. He began to walk towards her slowly.

"Now just hold still, my dear. I promise you only 30 seconds of excrutiating pain." he said, holding up his claws.

Rouge stared at them for a second in terror, then shifted her eyes back to Mephiles'. Mephiles drew his hand back in preperation to strike, but something grabbed his ankle. He glared down at Shadow, who returned the glare weakly.

"Leave her alone, demon. I'm warning you..." he muttered.

Mephiles scoffed, then prepared to attack the hedgehog.

Suddenly the ship rocked with the impact of hitting something.

"What in the?" he growled.

"Oh, I forgot to tell ya. We found you. It certainly wasn't easy, but we did it." Rouge said with a smirk. Another explosion rocked the ship, throwing the group off balance. Rouge hovered in the air, then Spin Kicked Mephiles in the head.

She helped Shadow to his feet as Mephiles sat up, rubbing his head with a growl.

"Quick, let's get outta here." Rouge and Shadow ran out the door into the hall.

"Tails said to head for the main hallway, any idea where that is?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, follow me." Shadow pulled Rouge along behind him.

After a few minutes of running, they got to the main hallway. Rouge pulled out a Chaos emerald.

"Your turn Shadow." she held it out to the hedgehog.

Shadow took it, and the gem started to glow. "Chaos Control!" he shouted. A bright glow enveloped the twosome, and they disappeared in a flash.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

They reappeared on the B. T., surrounded by Sonic and co.

"Alright! It worked, way to go!" Sonic cheered.

"I told ya it would work!" Tails cheered as well.

"We've been worried about you Shadow, are you ok?" Cream asked.

Rouge opened her mouth to answer, but Shadow beat her to it.

"I'm fine. " he said.

Rouge looked at him seriously.

"I'm fine, really. I need rest is all." Shadow insisted as he headed for the door. As he passed, Sonic heard him mutter, "Haven't gotten any in the last few days..."

Rouge sighed. Shadow had too much pride to admit when he was hurt. "Cosmo, follow me, ok?" she asked, heading after Shadow. Cosmo nodded and followed.

Meanwhile, the others discussed the situation.

"What do you think happened to Shadow?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't know, he seems fine. But his eyes looked troubled." Tikal stated.

"I hope he feels better soon." Shade said thoughtfully.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow sighed as Cosmo inspected his injuries.

"It's a good thing Eggman was on that ship to take care of you, if these wounds hadn't been treated they could've been much worse." she stated as she looked at the arm that had been cut into.

"Alright, hold still." she ordered gently. She held her hands over the cuts, and they gave off a golden light for a minute. Shadow felt the pain ebbing away, then it vanished altogether, the scars disappearing and only faint marks were left. Cosmo withdrew her hands and wiped her forehead. Her powers could be quite draining at times, depending on the injury.

"Those marks will be gone soon. If anything starts hurting or something, come see me, I'll be happy to help." she said.

"I'll be fine." Shadow muttered. His pride wouldn't let him just say thank you.

"You're welcome, Shadow." Cosmo said as she got up, knowing Shadow was saying thanks in his own way.

Rouge held the door open for her. "Thanks again Cosmo." she said gratefully.

"My pleasure." Cosmo left, and Rouge shut the door behind her.

"Is 'thank you' in your vocabulary?" she asked as she sat next to Shadow on his bed.

"Funny." he muttered.

"You know, admitting you can get hurt is nothing to be ashamed of. If Mephiles attacked you and landed a few hits, so what?"

"Look Rouge, I just really want some sleep right now. Okay?"

Rouge sighed. "Fine, but you're telling me EVERYTHING when you wake up. Got it?"

"Got it."

Rouge stood and headed for the door. "Sleep tight, Shad."

Shadow smirked as she left and shut the door behind her. He layed down and stared at the ceiling.

'Feels good to be home...' he thought.

'Enjoy it while it lasts...' a voice chuckled. Shadow's eyes widened for a second.

'Mephiles...can't you leave me alone for 5 minutes?' he thought bitterly.

There was no answer, and Shadow came to beleive he'd just imagined it.

'If you think you're safe, you're sadly mistaken...' the voice chuckled.

'Shut up...' he thought. He rolled onto his side and shut his eyes. Sleep was what he really wanted right now.

"Sleep tight, Shadow." Mephiles' voice murmered...right next to his ear. His eyes snapped open and he slowly looked around. Seeing no one, he shut his eyes again. He kept his senses on high alert, but gradually fell into a peaceful slumber.

As he slept, a purplish black mist formed beside the bed. Mephiles appeared from the mist and stared at Shadow silently.

"Yes, sleep tight..." he whispered, an evil idea forming in his mind. He returned to his mist form, and engulfed Shadow. He slowly sank into the hedgehog, and Shadow frowned in his sleep slighty as he turned over onto his other side.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

What's Mephiles' idea? Stay tuned to find out! R&R!

Kinda short compared to my other chapters, but aw well. 


	11. Chapter 11

Shadow looked around. It was pitch black where ever he was, and for a split panic filled second he thought he was in the dark room again. Then he remembered he'd escaped from Mephiles' ship.

'Where am I?" he thought as he looked around.

"Don't let them get away!" a voice shouted.

Shadow whipped around. That wasn't Mephiles' voice, but it still sounded familier.

"Keep running you two!" another voice yelled. Shadow froze upon recognising it.

"Professor?" he murmered, looking around. He spotted something, a white orb of light, floating a few feet away. The voices were coming from it. He warily walked up to it. As he reached out to touch it, it pulsated, and a blinding flash of light forced Shadow to shut his eyes tightly. When he opened them again, what he saw made him freeze where he was.

He was on the ARK, in one of the many hallways. He saw himself and Maria walking down the hall towards the observation room. They passed right through present Shadow. A sudden shout caused them to jump.

"Maria, Shadow! Get in here!" Prof. Gerald yelled as he ran toward them from his lab. He looked panicked.

"What's wrong Grandfather?" Maria asked as she and past Shadow ran up to him. Gerald didn't answer and pulled the two of them into his lab.

"You two need to get to the escape pods! We've been invaded!" he explained.

"By who?" Shadow asked.

"GUN!"

"But aren't they the ones paying for your research?" Maria asked in confusion.

"There's no time to explain! Get to the escape pods!" Gerald ordered, pushing them out the room and toward the observation room where the pods were located.

"Stop right there!" a voice boomed. A group of soldiers were running towards them.

"RUN!" Gerald shouted. Shadow and Maria started running, followed by Gerald and the soldiers.

"Don't let them escape!" one soldier, a young man with brown hair and green eyes ordered.

Shadow grabbed Maria's hand and pulled her after him. The sound of feet pounding against the metal floor after them kept them going.

"Keep running!" they heard Gerald shout. The last glimpse they caught of him was of him surrounded by some soldiers.

"Granpa!" Maria shouted in despair. Shadow pulled her along, forcing her to keep running.

"We have to keep moving!" he said. He listened intently, and could hear someone still coming after them.

They made it to the observation room and sealed the door shut. As they ran over to the escape pods, they could hear shouting coming from outside the door.

One of the pods was already open.

"Alright, you go first. I'll catch up!" Shadow ordered. Maria looked at the pod for a minute, then at Shadow.

"What are you waiting for?" Shadow asked.

"I'm sorry Shadow, but I have to do this." Maria said, then shoved Shadow into the escape pod. The door closed before he jumped to his feet.

"What're you doing!" he shouted in confusion. Maria was running to the lever. The sound of gunshots outside the room made present Shadow shudder violently. He knew what was coming, and didn't want to see or hear one bit of it.

'I gotta wake up...I gotta wake up...' he thought as he saw the door open and the GUN soldier step into the room. Maria had reached the lever and was holding it with both hands.

"Freeze!" the soldier ordered. Maria jumped a little at the sound of his voice.

"Take your hands off that lever."

"Just listen to him, Maria!" past Shadow yelled from the pod.

Present Shadow took a step back, putting one hand to his head.

'No...'

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." he heard Maria say sadly.

'No...' he put the other hand on his head.

She pulled the lever, the pod launched into space, and the sound of a gunshot rang in his ears.

"NO!" Shadow screeched, gripping his head with both hands and falling to his knees as tears fell from his eyes.

Maria was lying lifeless on the floor, and the area around Shadow faded away, leaving only the pitch blackness. Maria's body was still there.

Suddenly she moved, and stood, with no trace of her injury. Shadow stared in confusion.

Maria's eyes opened, but there was coldness in them when they looked Shadow as stood. They hardened into an icy glare, and Shadow shuddered at the hatred in them. This wasn't the Maria he'd known.

"It was your fault." she hissed. Shadow froze as his eyes widened.

"Everyone on the ARK died because of you!"

"It...it wasn't my fault." Shadow stammered, backing away from the girl.

"You could've saved me but you didn't!"

"I was trapped in the pod, what could I have done?"

"I meant before that. You could've easily defeated those soldiers but you didn't. You ran like the coward you are!"

"I didn't want to hurt anyone!"

"What about me? I got hurt, and you didn't do a thing to help!"

"I was trapped in the pod you shoved me into! I wanted you to go first, remember?"

"You didn't care if I got hurt did you? You just wanted to save yourself!"

"No! I was trying to save the both of us!"

"Why?"

"Because you were my friend!"

"So if I wasn't your friend you wouldn't have cared? What about Grandfather? You didn't try to save him, so was he not your friend?"

"That's not what I meant!"

"It's your fault and you know it! You've always known it, no matter how many times you tell yourself it wasn't. It was your fault!"

"No, it wasn't my fault! I tried to help you! I really did!" Shadow had tears flowing heavily from his eyes.

"It's your fault..."

Other people from the ARK appeared and stalked towards him while muttering, "It's your fault..." over and over.

Shadow clapped his hands to his ears, shut his eyes tightly, and slowly backed away.

"It's not, it's not my fault." he muttered. Someone behind him grabbed his arms and pulled his hands away from his ears, forcing him to listen to the chorus of voices.

"It's your fault...it's your fault...it's your fault..."

"It's not my fault. It's not my fault. IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Shadow screamed desperately trying to escape this horror show, but who ever had hold of him had an iron grip.

'Admit it...' a deep voice hissed behind him. He recognised it all too well.

"It wasn't my fault..." he whispered as more tears slipped down his face.

'You can deny it all you want, but you have to face the fact she's dead because of you.' Mephiles chuckled.

"No, it's not my fault...there's nothing I could've done..." Shadow whispered in despair.

"You could have defeated them with the flick of a wrist!" Maria's furious shout rang in the darkness.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone..."

"You could've saved me!"

"I tried..."

"It was your fault!"

"It wasn't my fault..."

"I hate you!"

Shadow sputtered to a stop.

It was amazing how much of an effect those 3 simple words could have on someone.

'You're a monster, Shadow. Even your little human friend thought so. Did you ever think maybe she was just acting nice to keep you from getting mad? She's like all the others.' Mephiles said.

"I'm not a monster..."

'She was afraid of you, just like the rest of your so called friends. They see you for what you are. A monster.'

"You're wrong."

'I think we both know I'm right, Shadow. You're just too afraid to admit it.'

"You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong!"

Shadow fought vainly to get free, not caring how pathetic he looked. Mephiles held him fast.

'Give up, and this will all end.' the demon urged.

"I'm never giving up!"

'Just give in to the darkness...you could have so much power, like you want.'

"All I want is for you to leave me the Hell alone!"

'I won't give up, Shadow...you will come to my side, eventually...'

"I'm never joining you! Get that through your thick head!"

Shadow felt something hit the back of his head, and as he fell forward he heard Mephiles' deep laughter. Then all went dark.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow bolted up in bed, panting as he looked around the room, half expecting to see Mephiles.

He was covered in cold sweat, and the sheet was twisted around him as if he'd been tossing and turning in his sleep.

His nerves were on edge as he put a hand to his forehead.

A knock on the door caused him to jump a little.

"Hey, Shadow. You awake?" he heard Rouge call.

He slowly got up and walked to the door. He tried to calm himself by doing what he always did. Keeping everything locked up inside. He opened the door with his regular stoic expression on his face.

"I am now." he muttered.

"Sorry. Dinner's ready, why don't you come eat?" Rouge asked.

"Ok, I'll catch up in a sec."

Rouge gave him a concerned look. "Are you ok?"

Shadow was half tempted to tell her about the nightmare, but he didn't want to worry her any more than she had been in the last few days.

"I'm fine, just have to get used to not having your every move monitered." he said with a smirk.

Rouge smiled. "OK, see ya in a few." she headed for the kitchen.

As soon as she was gone, Shadow closed the door and leaned his back against it.

The entire nightmare flashed through his mind.

'It was my fault...' he thought as he slid to the floor. Tears slid down his face in torrents, and for once he didn't do a thing to stop them, and he cried silently to himself.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles is a really twisted individual, and I was trying to capture that in this chapter. Hope I did, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. R&R! 


	12. Chapter 12

Here's chapter 12, btw, I realised I forgot someone in the first few chapters, Silver the Hedgehog. Sorry about that, just pretend he's been there the whole time as a very silent back ground character. Ok, without further ado, chapter twevle of Sonic X Season 4!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Rouge sighed as she sat down.

She knew something was troubling Shadow, but she didn't want to push it.

'I hope he's ok...' she thought.

Cosmo brought over a plate with a grilled cheese sandwhich. "Here you go, Rouge."

"Thanks, Cosmo. Glad to have something that won't give me a cavity."

Cosmo chuckled as she set the plate down and went to help Amy and Blaze with the rest.

Shadow came in at that moment, and sat down beside Rouge.

"How you doin?" the ivory bat asked.

"I'm fine." Shadow replied. After the tears had finally stopped, he had cleaned up and come to the kitchen.

Cream and Cheese walked over with sandwhich. "Here Shadow, I know you must be hungry, so Blaze and I made you a special one."

"Thanks." Shadow said as bit into the sandwhich. He was hungry. Mephiles hadn't fed him at all except for an apple.

Everyone was happily enjoying their meals in silence. Then Shadow paused.

"Something wrong?" Sonic asked.

"...I can sense a Chaos emerald."

"A Chaos emerald? We gotta get there before Mephiles and get it!" Amy said.

Everyone finished their meal in a hurry and headed for the bridge. Tails put a radar on the screen. It pinged, and a green dot appeared off to the right.

"Alright, let's get to that planet. Which is it?" Sonic asked.

"I don't beleive it. It's planet Marmolade." Tails murmured.

"Aw man, not that place again!" Knuckles groaned.

"Planet what?" Shadow asked.

"Marmolade. It's a long story, but we've been there. Which means we won't have any problems with the locals." Sonic explained.

The BT landed, and the passengars dissembarked.

"So, where's the emerald at?" Rouge asked.

"We don't have an exact location, but it's in town." Tails stated.

"Great, let's go!" Silver said. The Mobians reached the town, and decided to split up.

"Silver, you and I will check the east side." Shadow stated.

"Right." the snow white hedgehog nodded.

"If you find it, call us." Tails said. The two hedgehogs nodded and ran off.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow growled in frustration. They had yet to find even a trace of the emerald.

"Where's that freakin emerald?" he grumbled.

"We'll find it. Eventually." Silver assured him.

"Maybe a bird's eye view'll help. Lift me up."

"OK."

Shadow was surrounded by a aqua green aura as he was lifted in to the air.

"See anything?" Silver called up to him. Shadow shook his head as he squinted in to the distance.

"I'll go ask around town, you just stay here." Silver ran off, leaving Shadow floating in the air.

"Wait! Let me down first! Silver!" Shadow yelled after him, but Silver was too far gone.

'Great...' he thought with a sigh.

"Aw well, it won't take him too long to get back. How long could he take?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Silver sat down in a chair in front of a Marmolayin with a crystal ball.

"Alright, so how does this work?" he asked the alien.

"Place something of importance to you in front of the ball, and I will tell you your future." the lady replied.

Silver thought for a minute, then pulled out a gem. It wasn't a Chaos emerald, but it was just as important to him. It had been a gift from his closest friend.

"Alright, I will now read your future." the lady placed her hands on the crystal ball and closed her eyes in concentration.

After a minute, she opened her eyes again and looked at Silver.

"I see a great challenge fast approaching you. You will need great courage and strength to overcome it."

"What's the challenge?" Silver asked worriedly.

"I cannot tell you, it is not my place to. But that is not all. I also see you and someone very close to you having to make a difficult choice. You and this person...have romance in your futures."

"I guess you can't tell me either of those?"

"She is someone you have always known, and have fiercely fought for."

"Ok, thanks I guess..."

Silver got up and left the fortune teller's tent, and went to the table across the street.

"Hey, I have a question. If you can really see the future, can you tell me who it is I'm supposed to be with?" the hedgehog asked.

"She is closer than you think." the man answered

"Thanks. That helps alot." Silver turned and left.

He spent an hour going from shop to shop, looking at the items available, and asking the same question over and over. Who was he meant to be with?

After leaving the last shop, he sighed.

"Oh well, I guess I'll figure it out eventually. Now, what was it I was supposed to do?" he thought for a minute, then his golden eyes widened.

"Oh shoot..." he muttered. He'd forgotten all about Shadow, whom he'd left suspended in the air an hour and a half ago.

He ran back to where he'd left the black and crimson hedgehog.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"I'm gonna kill him. I swear to Chaos I'm gonna kill him." Shadow growled. He was STILL suspended in the air, and Silver had yet to come back.

"I'm gonna kill that naive idiot!"

He saw a white dot, and as it came closer he realised it was Silver.

"Heh heh, hey Shadow. I didn't find the emerald, which I've been looking for this whole time." Silver chuckled nervously as he looked up at the ebony hedgehog. Shadow's ruby eyes glared at him

"Silver, LET ME DOWN. NOW."

Silver let Shadow down, and Shadow landed on his feet.

"I'm gonna KILL YOU HEDGEHOG!" Shadow screeched.

"NOOO!" Silver whipped around and took off.

"COME BACK HERE!" Shadow yelled, racing after him.

Silver screamed as he ran through town. He didn't care about the curious stares he was attracting, he had a ticked off Shadow on his heels, and he wasn't about to stop and explain why he was screaming.

"SILVER!" he heard Shadow yell, and picked up the pace.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic, Blaze, Rouge, and Amy were walking through town.

"I hope we find this emerald, if Mephiles gets his claws on it, we're in trouble." Amy sighed.

"Don't worry Amy, we'll find it." Sonic assured her. He was holding the purple emerald, as Chaos emeralds could sense eachother and draw whoever had them at the moment closer to it.

"I wonder how Shadow and Silver are doing?" Rouge asked aloud.

"I'm sure things are going great." Blaze answered.

Suddenly they heard a scream.

"HELP!"

Silver barreled past them, and Shadow soon after.

"Get back here, Silver!" he yelled.

The two hedgehogs were soon out of sight.

"What the heck was that about?" Amy asked.

"Think Silver will be ok?" Blaze asked.

"As long as he keeps running, he should be fine." Sonic answered with a smirk. Blaze looked at him irratably. "What? Nothin's gonna stop Shadow. Certainly not me when he's like this."

"Hey, we got Cosmo. If anything bad happens she can fix it." Rouge said.

"So anyway, let's see if we can find that emerald." Sonic started walking again, followed closely by Amy, with Rouge and a irritated Blaze behind them.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Silver cursed as he turned down a dead end alley. He stopped as he reached the brick wall.

"Darn it!" he turned around to run out of the alley, but Shadow was at the entrence.

Shadow was infront of him in an instant, and had him pinned to the wall by his neck.

"Come on Shadow, we can talk this out." Silver insisted nervously.

"You left me suspended in the air for an hour! What's there to talk about?" Shadow snapped.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Silver gulped as he realised he couldn't think of a good excuse.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll make this quick." Shadow drew a fist back.

"Ahhhh!" Silver screamed.

"I haven't even hit you yet."

"No. Ahhhh!" Silver pointed behind him. Shadow looked back and saw a large group of shadows, led by Mephiles.

"Great..." Shadow muttered as he released Silver and turned around.

"Nice to see you again, Shadow. Having some issues with your friends?" Mephiles snickered.

Shadow and Silver got into fighting stances.

"Don't think you're off the hook." Shadow growled at Silver. Silver gulped as he looked away and directed his gaze at Mephiles. The demon snapped his fingers, and the shadows lunged forward.

Silver caught them all in a telekinitic hold, and Shadow destroyed them with Chaos spears.

Shadow turned to face Mephiles, but the demon was nowhere in sight.

"Shadow!" Silver screamed, and Shadow turned to see the white furred hedgehog trapped in a sleeper hold from behind by Mephiles.

"Let him go, Mephiles." Shadow ordered as he prepared a Chaos Spear, quite capable of missing Silver.

"I have a better idea. You come with me, and I won't hurt your little friend." Mephiles chuckled as he tightened his hold, cutting off Silver's breathing. Silver clawed at his arm, but Mephiles didn't let go.

Shadow saw the frightened look in Silver's eyes, and gritted his teeth. The Chaos Spear dissipated in his hand.

"That's what I thought." Mephiles opened a purple orb and it encased the trio.

"You said you'd let Silver go!" Shadow growled.

"I never said that." Mephiles laughed as two shadows appeared behind Shadow and latched onto him.

The three of them vanished.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Great, now Mephiles has Shadow and Silver. Will Sonic and the others be able to rescue the two hedgehogs? And will the Chaos emerald be found? Stay tuned to find out! R&R! 


	13. Chapter 13

Shadow gritted his teeth tightly as the whip struck his back yet again.

His arms were chained to the roof of the room, and two shadows with whips were following through with the order given to them by Mephiles.

One struck his back again, causing him to flinch slightly, and the other struck his chest. He refused to cry out and give Mephiles what he desired.

Said demon was on the other side of the room, arms crossed and sitting in midair thanks to his Chaos energy, one leg resting on his thigh. He looked on with a unreadable expression.

He had to give Shadow credit, the fact he'd gone on this long without screaming was rather impressive. Granted he'd half yelped the first few times, but now he was completely silent, though it was obvious by his expression he was in severe pain. His eyes were clenched shut, tears were in the process of forming in the corners of his eyes, his teeth were gritted, and his fists were clenched tightly.

Shadow had found a pattern. Only one shadow struck at a time. One hit his back, then the other followed by striking his chest. He was able to brace himself the hits.

Back. Front. Back. Front. Pause. Back. Front. Back. Front. Pause.

His back and chest were burning from all the hits. This had been going on for what felt like hours.

Mephiles stared at the proceedings for a few minutes longer, then held up a hand. The shadows stopped immediatly.

Back. Front. Pause...?

Shadow slowly opened his eyes in slight confusion as he drew a ragged breath.

Mephiles walked up to him and put a finger under Shadow's chin, tilting it upward. Shadow glared with as much hate as he could muster.

"I hope you've learned." Mephiles said.

"Learned what? That you're a cold hearted demon with a thick head? I already knew that." Shadow smirked weakly. Mephiles' eyes narrowed, and he snapped his fingers.

One of the whips hit Shadow's back, causing him to flinch, then breath through his teeth as one more burning pain bloomed on his back.

"I hope you've learned not to cross me." Mephiles growled. He let Shadow go and stepped away a little, then snapped his fingers again. The chains disappeared, and Shadow fell to his hands and knees, hissing slightly as the cuts on his back stretched.

"By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I gave your little friend your room. You'll be staying closer to me." Mephiles stated.

"Whatever." Shadow retorted.

"The room should be familier. You've been in it before."

Shadow looked at him with a furious yet curious gaze.

"Must I give you a hint?" Mephiles sighed as he knelt down next to the hedgehog. He put a hand on Shadow's forehead, and an image played through Shadow's mind.

He saw himself, cowering in a pitch black room while Mephiles stood over him, blood covered claws prepared to strike the quivering hedgehog at his feet.

The vision ended, and Shadow's eyes were wide with fear.

"Please don't put me back in there...please..." he begged in a whisper.

Mephiles laughed, then ordered the shadows to pick Shadow up, and they took him to the room he feared almost as much as he did Mephiles.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Silver sighed as he looked around the small room he'd been put in.

"This stinks." he muttered. Mephiles had stuck him in here, and Chaos knows where he took Shadow.

Suddenly the door opened, and Mephiles walked in.

"I want outta here!" Silver exclaimed. Mephiles chuckled.

"You can leave this room at any time. Shadow's the one who's limited to what he can do."

"Where is Shadow anyway?"

"He's going to be kept closer to me, to make sure he doesn't try anything...stupid."

Silver had a feeling there were other reasons besides that.

"I wanna talk to him." the snow white hedgehog demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"I'm not asking for permission, I demand to see him. Now!"

Mephiles glared at Silver. "I'd watch myself if I were you. Shadow knows full well what happens when my rules are broken."

"I don't care! He's my friend, and I demand to see him!"

Mephiles let out a dragged sigh. He could see some of Shadow's stubborness had rubbed off on Silver.

"Fine, you wanna see him?" a purple orb formed in Mephiles' hand, then expanded to encase the both of them. Silver could see a vision forming in his mind's eye.

It was a pitch black room. At first he couldn't see anything, then, gradually, his eyes got accustomed to the dark, and he could see a form huddled in the corner of the room. It took him a minute to recognise the quivering form as Shadow. It was hard to beleive this shaking whimpering hedgehog was the same one that had been angrily chasing him through the streets of Marmolade only a few hours ago.

"Shadow..." he murmered in complete shock.

Shadow let out a whimper. "Please let me out..."

Silver tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but his hand passed through Shadow.

Then the vision vanished, leaving Silver with a shocked look.

"What'd you do to him?" he finally asked.

"Nothing much. He knows what could happen to him in that room if he doesn't behave. You should learn to behave yourself, lest you want to end up like him." Mephiles warned.

Silver glared at him. Yet he also feared him. Mephiles was able to make Shadow as weak and defensless as a kitten, who knows what he could do to Silver.

"We'll be leaving this planet as soon as we find that Chaos emerald. Shadow being here will make finding the others much easier. You might be of use to me as well. We'll see. In the mean time, try to stay on my good side. I'd hate to have to teach someone as young as you the same lesson I tought Shadow when he first arrived." Mephiles said.

"I'm not any younger than Shadow!" Silver retorted.

"Oh please, Shadow's over 50."

"Chronologically, yes! But he's still physically 15!"

"Even so, he's still at least 55."

"Well, your only 10!"

Mephiles narrowed his eyes, and they gained a reddish glow. Silver smirked.

"Watch your tongue. I won't hesitate to rip YOURS out." Mephiles growled. He turned and headed for the door.

"That the best ya got? Shadow was right, you do have lousy comebacks." Silver taunted.

Mephiles stopped and half turned to Silver, an unsettling gleam in his eyes.

"Oh, Shadow said that, eh? Well, I guess I'll teach him not to talk badly about others."

"Leave him alone!" Silver growled. His hands gained an aqua aura about them, and he shot a blast of telekinetic energy at the demon. Mephiles flew backward and slammed into the wall. He glared at Silver, and the white hedgehog shuddered. Mephiles could've killed with the look he was giving him.

Mephiles threw a purple orb at Silver, sending the hedgehog flying into the opposite wall, then sent another at him. Silver ducked out of the way just in time. Before the demon could send another orb at him, he threw up a psychic wall.

Mephiles glared at him a few minutes more before regaining his calm composure.

"I'll not waste my time and power on a pathetic kid who thinks he can take on the world."

"Or you just too afraid to lose?" Silver taunted with a smirk. Mephiles chuckled, then melted into the floor. He appeared just behind Silver.

"I won't lose to some waste of oxygen." he hissed. Silver shivered as Mephiles disappeared again. After a few minutes, he decided Mephiles was gone, and let down the wall. He took a seat in the chair and let out a sigh.

'I hope Shadow'll be okay...' he thought.

xoxoxooxoxoxoxo

Sonic let out a groan.

"Where the heck are Silv and Shad?" he asked.

"For the 100 millionth time, we don't know!" Blaze snapped.

They'd finally found the emerald in a jewel shop, and thanks to Rouge's flirtatious charm, managed to talk the owner into giving it to them.

They'd regrouped with the others, but Shadow and Silver had yet to show up.

"I hope they're okay." Rouge said worriedly.

"I'm sure they're fine, Rouge." Amy said assuringly. But she was worried too.

Cosmo had a worried look on her face.

"I'm sensing deep distress from both of them." she murmered.

Everyone looked at her. She had a hand on her red amulet, which was giving off a faint red glow.

Rouge sighed and looked at the sky. A orange movement caught her eye. She looked and saw a Marmolayin.

"Can we help you with something?" she asked.

"Well, those two you're looking for. I saw them earlier, the black and red one was chasing after the white one. They were in the alley when this other one appeared out of nowhere with a bunch of wierd black shadow looking things. They fought for a minute, then the wierd guys took them."

"Mephiles took Shadow and Silver?" Rouge exclaimed.

"We gotta help them!" Blaze piped in.

"Mephiles will definantly be coming for the emerlald. So all we have to do is wait."

"Or Rouge could teleport there, and Shadow can Chaos Control them out again." Tails offered.

"Sounds good to me." Rouge said, determination in her jade eyes.

"Let's be careful though. We don't want anyone else getting caught or hurt." Sonic warned. Everyone nodded.

"Alright, I'll go get that teleporter. BRB." Sonic raced off.

Blaze and Rouge paced around, nervousy and worry coursing through them.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Poor Shadow. I really hate putting him through this, but it will help the story's main purpose in the future. Hope you like the story so far, R&R! 


	14. Chapter 14

Silver walked boredly down the hallway. This ship had nothing exciting to do, not that he was expecting it to. He seriously doubted Mephiles would have a game room or anything entertaining.

Of course, the only thing Mephiles found entertaining was tormenting others.

"I wonder which of these rooms Shadow's in. Maybe if I could find it, we could get out of here with Chaos Control." Silver paused, then face palmed. "Except we don't have an emerald to use. We might have if I hadn't been goofing off."

He sighed, and continued walking. He had no idea where he was going, but he couldn't stand being in that for another minute. He came to a door, which slid open and revealed a large room with a window that only covered half the wall on one side. Who else was in the room was what really surprised him.

"Eggman?" he exclaimed in confusion. The Docter turned to him.

"Ah, Silver. I see Mephiles is allowing you to walk around freely. Consider yourself lucky, he hasn't let Shadow out of where ever he is since he put him in there."

"Do you know where he is?"

"...I have a guess."

"Tell me! I gotta get him outta there. The way he looked...I can't stand one of my friends going through that."

"Well, the Dark room, as Mephiles calls it, is one of the lower deck rooms. As for which, couldn't tell you."

"Alright, then I'm headed for the lower deck! Distract Mephiles ok?" Silver ran off.

"Ok-wait, what?" Eggman yelled after him angrily.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Silver let out a frustrated sigh. He'd searched 5 rooms without so much as a trace of Shadow.

'Where the heck is he?' he thought as he walked up to another door. He was about to open it when he heard a piercing scream.

'Shadow!' he thought.

He ran toward the scream, and more followed. After a few screams, he was able to make out words.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" "PLEASE STOP!" "HELP!"

He came up to a door, and the screams were coming from within the room.

The screams sent chills down his spine. He could hardly beleive Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform, defeater of the Black Arms,Mr. never back down, die sooner than cry, was the emmiter of these screams for mercy.

After a few minutes, the screams quieted down. Silver waited a few minutes more, then tested the doorknob. It opened with ease. He tentavely stepped into the room, and shut the door. He immediately reopened it a few inches. Closed, the room was pitch black and formitable.

He walked farther in, then froze and strained his ears. He could hear something. A faint sobbing.

"Shadow?" he called quietly. The sobbing stopped.

"S-Silver?" Shadow answered, disbeleif in his voice.

"Yeah, where the heck are you? I can't see a thing in here."

"O-over here."

Silver followed Shadow's voice to what he presumed was the corner of the room.

He felt around, and found Shadow's shoulder.

"Are you ok?" Silver asked.

"Sure I'm fine." came the answer.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"I just heard 'SCREAMING', that didn't sound like nothing. What happened?"

"...Mephiles was in a bad mood, that's all."

Silver winced a little. He had a feeling he'd had a part in Mephiles' bad mood.

"Are you gonna be ok?" he asked.

"I will be."

Silver felt something wet and warm on his hand. He withdrew it a little, and in the faint light, saw dark crimson.

"Shadow, I think you need a docter or something. Man, if only we were on our ship, then Cosmo could help."

"Yeah, if only."

"Well, we don't always get what we want, do we?" another voice asked. Silver felt Shadow tense up, and Silver whipped around to see Mephiles' outline in the door.

"I want prisoners who know their place, but obviously that's not gonna happen." Mephiles growled.

"Silver, get out of here." Shadow said as he painfully got to his feet. He could barely stand.

"Even if I COULD, do you really think I would?" Silver asked.

"No."

Silver got ready to fight, but Mephiles instantly vanished, then reappeared behind him, which he found out when Mephiles' claws sank into his back. He screamed and fell to the floor. Shadow let out a furious yell and charged at Mephiles. The demon easily knocked him to the floor.

Silver tried to get up, but he couldn't.

Mephiles opened a portal, and grabbed Silver and flung him into it. "I'll deal with you later," the demon hissed. "First, I'm going to stay and teach Shadow a few things."

The portal closed and Silver reappeared in his room, falling to the floor.

"Aw great..." he muttered.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow let out a moan. He tried to sit up, but Mephiles held him down.

"Seems I didn't quite get my message across. Maybe this time you'll learn to listen to my orders."

Two shadows held Shadow down, and claws sliced into him yet again, only more slowly, his screams more pained.

"SOMEONE HELP MEEEE!"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Silver was sitting in the chair again when suddenly, out of nowhere, Rouge appeared.

"Waah! Rouge! Please don't do that!" he gasped as he jumped to his feet.

"Silver?What're you doing in Shadow's room?" the bat asked.

"Mephiles put me in here and Shadow in one of the basements downstairs."

"Is he ok?"

"...Well, I wouldn't call it ok...well I wouldn't call it anything but horrible."

"Do you think he's ok?"

"No. I just left him, Mephiles wasn't to happy I found him."

"Can you take me back there? I brought a Chaos emerald, so Shadow could Chaos Control us out of here."

"Alright, I think I can do that. We gotta be quick though, Mephiles will be on high alert."

Rouge nodded, and the twosome ran out of the room towards the lower deck.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Will Silver and Rouge be successful? Stay tuned to find out! R&R! 


	15. Chapter 15

Silver and Rouge stared at the door to the room where Shadow was being kept.

"Do you think it's safe to go in yet?" Silver asked quietly.

Rouge listened for a minute, then nodded.

"Yeah, let's go in."

They ran to the door and tested the knob.

"It's locked." Rouge pulled out screw driver.

"Where'd you get that?" Silver asked.

"Tails' lab." Rouge pulled out a bobby pin.

"Alright, let's see if all those years of jewel robbery'll pay off." Rouge messed with the lock for about 5 minutes. Then she let out a triumphant sigh, and pushed the door open.

"Let's go." the twosome stepped into the room.

"Hey, Shadow. You in here?" Rouge called. They heard a sound from the corner, followed by a moan.

"Shadow?" Rouge walked easily through the darkness, as she was a bat. She knelt down beside the trembling hedgehog.

"Are you ok? We're gonna get you out. But you'll have to use Chaos Control to do it." she asked as she placed a hand gently on Shadow's shoulder, and she heard a hiss of pain.

"Shadow?" Silver asked worriedly.

"...Give me the emerald, I can still use Chaos Control." Shadow answered, his voice slightly weak.

"Are you sure?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah..." Shadow got painfully to his feet. He leaned against the wall for support. Rouge pulled out the emerald. It was the white emerald. Shadow took it, and it began to glow, illuminating the room.

"Chaos Control!"

The three disappeared in a flash of light, but before they did, Rouge caught a glimpse of the doorway.

Mephiles stood in the doorway, watching them with amuzement.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic and co. were taking off from planet Marmolade.

Shadow was in the infirmery, Cosmo busily working on healing his injuries. Rouge stayed by his side the whole time, and Silver watched from outside.

Blaze walked up to him.

"Will he be okay?" she asked.

"Cosmo says he has a lot of injuries, and it'll take time for them to fully go away, but he'll be okay." Silver answered.

"That's good. We've been worried about you guys." Blaze glanced at him.

"And I was extremely worried about you." she murmered.

"You were?"

"Of course, you're my friend."

"Thanks, you're my friend too." Silver thought for a minute. "Hey Blaze, I got a fortune teller lady to tell me something about my future."

"You can never trust what they say, Silver."

"I know, but she sounded honest."

"What'd she say?"

"She said..." Silver thought for a minute.

"She said?"

"Uh, she said we would all have to make a difficult choice."

"What does that mean?"

"I dunno, she wouldn't say. She also said-er, nevermind."

"What else did she say?"

"N-nothing of importance. Hey, look, here come Rouge and Cosmo. Let's see if Shadow's okay."

Silver ran off, leaving a confused Blaze outside the room.

"Huh, wonder what's bothering him?" she muttered to herself as she followed.

She shook her head, and thought about the fortune she had been told.

The teller had said she had an important role to carry out.

'Wonder what he meant by that.' she thought, then focused on what else he'd said.

He'd said she would find love one day soon. And that he was closer than she realised. She'd been thinking about it all day. For some reason, her thoughts always led to Silver.

'Could he be...? Nah, that's silly. He has no interest in me, we're just friends.'

Meanwhile, Silver was having similar thoughts.

'Blaze couldn't be the one, could she? I just annoy her, no way would she be interested me.'

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles chuckled as he headed for the observation room on the ship.

"Those fools have no idea how vulnerable they've just become." he muttered to himself.

He held up his hand, and a small orb appeared in it. There was an image in the orb.

Cosmo and Rouge were shown, talking to eachother about how Shadow was doing.

"He'll be fine Rouge. He just needs rest." Cosmo said assuringly.

"Great. Thanks Cosmo, you're a big help on this ship."

Cosmo smiled. "Thank you, I'm glad I could be of assistence."

"Hey, give this to Knucklehead for me when ya see him, kay?" Rouge handed Cosmo the Chaos emerald.

"Sure, I'll see you later."

Cosmo left, and Silver came into the room.

"Is he gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's Shadow after all. Give him some time to rest, and he'll be up and movin' in no time." Rouge smirked.

"Great, me and Blaze were worried."

The conversation was cut off as Mephiles closed his hand around the orb, causing it to vanish.

"Things are about to get a lot more fun." he chuckled, then continued to walk down the hall.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

What is Mephiles planning? Are Silver and Blaze meant to be? Will Shadow make a full recovery physically and mentally? Does anyone else besides me know the answers?

No on that last one, hope you enjoyed. I know it's kinda short, but I'm tryin to think of how the next chapter will go. Got the beginning and near ending, but the middle's gonna be kinda hard. Anyway, R&R! 


	16. Chapter 16

I got a review on my last chapter, it said Shadow wouldn't have been able to move if he'd gone through what I put him through. I meant to put it somewhere in here later, but I don't want any confusion. Mephiles, like Cosmo, has healing powers. He healed Shadow enough so he wouldn't die or anything, cuz he doesn't wanna kill him...yet. Hope that clears up the confusion. Here's chapter 16!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic and co. arrived on a forested planet.

"So, the next Chaos emerald's on this planet?" the blue blur asked.

"That's what the scanner says." Tails answered.

"Then let's get movin'!" Sonic cheered. He and the others headed for the woods.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"So this forest does what exactly?" Rouge asked.

"It's supposed to give form to your deepest fear." Tails said as he looked at his galaxy guide.

"That sounds scary..." Cream murmered fearfully.

"Don't worry, Cream. We don't all have to go." Sonic assured her.

"How about this, me and Pinkie here'll make one team, and someone else and Sonic can make another." Rouge suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Who wants to come with me?" Sonic asked.

"I'll go." Shadow spoke up.

"Are you sure, Shadow? You've been through kind of a lot recently, you should rest." Rouge said worriedly.

"I'll be fine. Let's just find this emerald already."

"Ok, if you're sure."

"Positive. Let's go, Faker."

Sonic and Shadow raced off.

"Alright, Amy, let's head out." Rouge said.

"Right. You guys look around here, and call if there's any trouble from you know who." Amy ordered the rest of the group.

"No problem, I'd like to see Mephiles try to take these emeralds from us." Knuckles snickered.

With that, the two girls headed off.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic and Shadow raced through the forest at blinding speed.

"So, how ya feeling buddy?" Sonic asked.

"I told you, I'm fine." Shadow grumbled. It seemed EVERYONE had asked him that 20 times ever since he and Silver had returned.

"Well, you say that, but me and the others can tell somethings wrong. We're your friends, you can tell us anything."

"I'm fine, Sonic. Let's just find that emerald and get out of here." Shadow sped up and left Sonic behind for a second.

Sonic sighed shrugged, then sped off to catch up with him. As he ran though, he thought he saw something watching him and Shadow from the bushes, but when he looked again it was gone.

'Wierd, I could've swore something was there...'

"Hey! Faker! Get the lead out of your shoes and come on!" Shadow called back.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm comin!" Sonic continued to run.

xoxoxoxoxo

Amy let out a sigh.

"I wish these things could be easier to find."

"You and me both, girl." Rouge muttered.

"So, do you think Shadow's really ok? I mean, he was locked in a dark room and attacked by Mephiles. I'd have a hard time moving on from that."

"Well, you know Shadow. He's not one to openly show when he's having problems. But I can tell sometimes, when he's feeling bad. I think the whole thing unnerved him a little. But I'm sure he'll be fine. He's made all kinds of comebacks, right?"

"Yeah, after all, he is Shadow."

"So, this forest's supposed to show your fears. I sure don't see anything."

"I'm perfectly fine with that!"

"Me too. But still, a little action never hurt anyone."

Amy was about to say something, when movement caught her eye. She looked and saw something that made her cry out.

It was a giant ghost, surrounded by smaller ones.

"Hey, I remember Tails sayin something about a guy like that." Rouge said.

"It's that creep, King Boom Boo!" Amy shreiked.

"You're afraid of this clown?"

Rouge took to the air and prepared to Screw Kick the giant ghost, but the smaller ones knocked her to the ground.

"Hey, that's no way to treat a lady!" she growled. The ghosts surrounded Amy, who let out a yelp and began swinging at them with her mallet.

"Back off creeps! I'm warning you!"

Rouge tried to help but King Boo grabbed her and held her in his fist tightly.

"Hey pal! Hands off!"

"Someone help!" Amy yelled.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic and Shadow had taken to the trees when the ground began to get soggy. They jumped from branch to branch effortlessly.

"We're getting close, I can feel it." Shadow called to Sonic.

Sonic gave a thumbs up and they continued to get closer to the center of the forest.

After 15 minutes, they were able to run on the ground again and arrived at a clearing.

In the center stood a pedastal with the blue Chaos emerald floating atop it.

"Alright, we found it!" Sonic said. "Let's-"

Before he could finish, a black blur hit them and sent them flying in opposite directions. Shadow hit a tree and slid to the ground. Sonic managed to land on his feet, and ran over to Shadow.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, what was-?"

Suddenly he cut himself off when he saw what had hit them. Sonic followed his gaze and stared in shock.

Before them stood an exact image of Shadow himself.

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxo

"I wonder if the others are ok?" Cream asked as she and Cosmo searched some bushes.

"I'm sure they're ok, Cream." Cosmo assured her.

"I wish they would call and let us know if they're ok." Blaze muttered.

"No worries Blaze, they're some of the toughest people I know. They'll be just fine." Silver said.

"I thought I heard Amy earlier, but I think it was just my imagination."

"If they were in trouble, they would call right?"

"Right. I worry too much."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Amy pounded at the ghosts flying at her, but each one she destroyed, another rose in it's place.

Rouge was still trapped in King Boo's hold.

"I'll admit, you're pretty tough." the ivory bat muttered as she struggled to get free.

"I want outta here!" Amy yelled.

"Amy, they're not real. It's just this forest making you think they are!"

Amy thought for a minute, but the small ghosts kept flying at her. She yelped and swung her hammer again. They seemed too real.

"Sonic! Help me! Sonic!"

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic was dealing with some other problems, like fighting fake Shadow.

He dodged Chaos Spears as they flew at him. Shadow sent his own Chaos Spears at his double.

Fake Shadow merely smirked and vanished.

"What the? Where'd he go?" Sonic asked. In answer to his question, a Chaos Spear hit him from behind and sent him flying into a tree. Shadow glared at his double.

"What are you?' he asked.

Fake Shadow laughed. "I'm you of course. Or what you should be."

"What're you talking about?"

"Like you don't know. This is the real you!" Fake Shadow sent Chaos Spears at Shadow, who nimbly dodged to the side.

Sonic ran to stand beside him. "I don't get it. You're afraid of being this strong?"

"No, he's afraid of what he'll become." Fake Shadow laughed, then began to glow. A few seconds later, a perfect copy of Mephiles' crystalline form stood where Fake Shadow had been.

"You're wrong! I'll never become you!" Shadow shouted, sending Chaos Spears at Fake Mephiles.

The demon's copy laughed, then jumped out of the way and sent a strong blast of energy at the two hedgehogs. They ran out of the way and Spindashed at Fake Mephiles. He laughed, and jumped out of the way, and the two collided.

Shadow was sent flying back into another tree. Sonic hit the ground and slid a couple inches. Shadow and Sonic stood, and Sonic ran to Shadow.

"Any ideas?" Shadow asked.

Before Sonic could say anything, a blue orb of energy hit the tree they were in front of and obliterated the base. The force of the blast knocked the two hedgehogs off their feet. The tree fell towards Shadow. He rolled away and avoided the trunk, but a thick branch hit his stomach and pinned him to the ground.

As he struggled to get free, footsteps coming toward him caused him to look up. Fake Mephiles was coming towards him with an amused look on his face. Shadow looked away and fought desperately to get out from under the branch, but it was no use. Fake Mephiles stood over him.

"Why fight it Shadow? You know it's futile." the fake said. Shadow gritted his teeth together tightly and clamped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out fake Mephiles' words, but it was pointless.

Sonic got up and saw the two of them, and he ran at the demon.

Fake Mephiles turned and saw him. He swung his fist and sent the blue hedgehog skidding across the ground. He turned back to Shadow.

He knelt down, grabbed Shadow's wrists, pulled them away from his ears and pinned them to the ground.

"Don't you see Shadow? You could have so much power, why fight it?" fake Mephiles asked. Shadow didn't answer.

"Perhaps a little demonstration will show you what I mean..."

Sonic was up and coming at them again. Fake Mephiles stood, then turned around faster than anyone there could blink and socked Sonic in the gut, and followed up with an upper cut. Sonic landed a few feet away with a grunt of pain.

"Sonic!" Shadow yelled with worry. Fake Mephiles chuckled and knelt down again. Shadow squirmed under the branch as fake Mephiles grabbed his wrists again and pinned them down.

"You can't fight it Shadow. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you squirm, you can't over power the darkness within you..."

Shadow shivered and let out a whimper. Sonic sat up and rubbed the back of his head, and looked over at Shadow and fake Mephiles. He heard Shadow whimper, and gritted his teeth.

"There's gotta be a way to beat this guy." he muttered. He looked around, and his gaze fell on the Chaos emerald.

"Alright, all I've gotta do is get the emerald. Simple enough." Sonic jumped to his feet and ran towards the emerald. He came to a screeching stop when a giant cyclone of water surrounded the pedastal, blocking him from the emerald. He tried to run through it, but he was thrown back by a forcefield like force.

"Great..." he grumbled.

Fake Mephiles chuckled as Shadow struggled to get free.

"Resistence is futile Shadow. You can't stop the real Mephiles, and you can't stop me, the evil within yourself. We both know what you are..."

"No..."

"You're a monster Shadow, no matter how many times you deny it."

"Shut up...you're wrong...I'm not a monster..."

"You can't deny the truth."

"You're wrong! You're wrong! I'm not evil!"

"It's inside you Shadow. Always has been, always will be. When it takes over you'll be unstoppable, you and Mephiles will be one and the same."

"No we won't! I refuse to be like him! Nothing could ever make me want that!"

"You can't fight it Shadow. Darkness always smothers light. It won't be long before it smothers you. Face it Shadow, sooner or later, you will become the monster you keep hidden from everyone."

"NOO!" Shadow screamed, desperately fighting to escape this nightmare, screaming in fear as he did.

Sonic heard him scream, and growled.

"Alright, I've had enough." he jumped up, curled into a ball, and Spindashed right through the watery forcefeild, and grabbed the emerald. It glew, and suddenly the water disappeared.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The ghosts disappeared as Amy and Rouge, who'd finally managed to kick free of King Boo, smashed the spot where they'd been. King Boo flickered, then vanished.

"Huh? Where'd they go?" Amy asked.

"Who knows? Let's get back to the ship, I'm beat." Rouge sighed.

Amy nodded, and the two girls started back to the BT.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Fake Mephiles grunted in slight pain, and released Shadow. Sonic raced over and knelt beside Shadow. Fake Mephiles growled lowly and leaned into Shadow's face.

"You can't keep me trapped forever..." he growled, then vanished.

Sonic managed to lift the branch off of Shadow enough for him to crawl out from under it.

"You ok Shad?" Sonic asked, helping him up.

"I'm fine." Shadow answered, looking at the ground.

"Shadow, we're friends, you can tell me anything."

"I'll be fine."

Sonic let it go, and the two of them headed for the ship. Shadow paused.

"Y-you don't think I'm like him, do you?" he asked.

"Who, Mephiles?"

Shadow nodded.

"Well, you two are both equally powerful, and you two do have a few simmalarities."

Shadow's ears drooped.

"But," Sonic said, and Shadow looked up, "There are just as many, if not more, differances. You fight for good, you haven't given into evil, no matter what they do, and most importantly, you have friends like us."

Shadow stared for a minute, and then smiled.

"Think you can beat me back to the ship, Faker?" he smirked.

Sonic grinned. "You're on buddy!"

The two took off, racing back to the BT.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"That forest was scary, Sonic!" Amy wailed as she clung to him.

"Hey, come on Amy, it's over now, we got the emerald." Sonic chuckled.

"I don't get it, why'd all that stuff just vanish?" Rouge asked.

"I think maybe the forest just gave fears forms, but the power of the Chaos emerald made them stronger and able to actually attack you." Tails explained.

"I'm never going there again." Amy muttered.

"So, we have how many emeralds?" Shadow asked.

"Let's see, we have 5. Which means we only have to find 2 more!" Tails cheered.

"Alright, let's find those emeralds!" Sonic piped in.

The others cheered and laughed, and surprisingly, Shadow was laughing too. He knowticed everyone looking at him.

"What?" he snapped.

"Did you see that? Shadow just laughed." Amy said.

"Yeah, so what?"

"You should laugh more often, Mr. Shadow." Cream smiled.

"Yeah, you have a nice laugh." Rouge agreed.

"If you people are gonna make this big a deal out of it, I don't know." Shadow muttered, then laughed, and the others joined in.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Aw, we're all getting along. How nice. Hope you enjoyed, R&R! 


	17. Chapter 17

Mephiles stared out into space, deep in thought.

'They have 5 emeralds, how am I gonna get them and the remaining 2? Getting Shadow to help me won't work, he knows me too well. How am I going to...' Mephiles paused, and an idea formed.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that sooner?" he chuckled. He opened a portal, and stepped into it and vanished.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was helping Rouge carry stuff to the kitchen.

"So, how much of this is actually food and not sweets?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know. The last healthy thing I had was that sandwhich." Rouge answered.

They both chuckled a little, but stopped when they saw a portal suddenly open in front of them.

Mephiles stepped out of it.

"Mephiles." Shadow growled.

"Nice to see you too." the demon snickered.

"What do you want, pal?" Rouge asked angrily, putting down the boxes she'd been carrying, followed by Shadow.

"Nothing much." Mephiles snapped his fingers, and shadows appeared. They grabbed Rouge.

"Let her go!" Shadow yelled, lunging at them. Mephiles appeared in front of him and trapped him in a sleeper hold.

"Ok, let ME go." Shadow growled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You'll be coming with me, hedgehog." Mephiles headed for the portal, Shadow kicking and struggling all the way.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled, trying to break free of the shadows.

Mephiles pulled Shadow into the portal, and it vanished.

The shadows disappeared.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails ran toward her.

"Hey, what happened?" Sonic asked.

"Mephiles appeared out of nowhere, and he took Shadow." Rouge explained.

"What do we do?"

"I teleport there, kick Mephiles in the head a couple times, then bring Shadow back."

"Rouge, I think Mephiles might have upgraded his defenses since last time." Tails stated

"Then what do we do?"

"We'll figure something out, don't worry." Sonic assured her.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow growled as he sat at the table in his room aboard Mephiles' ship.

'Great! Just great! Just when I finally got used to being on the Blue Typhoon!' he thought angrily. He let out a dragged sigh as he put his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand.

"You should know I can get very impatient when I'm in here!" he called out. There was a chuckle, and Mephiles stepped out of the wall into the room.

"Just letting you get comfortable. After all, you'll be here for a while."

"You can't keep me in here. No matter what I WILL get out. And when I do you'll be begging for mercy." Shadow retorted, leaning back in the chair and putting his arms on the armrests.

Mephiles laughed. "Oh on the contrary, it is YOU who will be begging ME."

Shadow growled. "I'll never beg for anything from the likes of YOU!"

Mephiles snickered, then snapped his fingers.

Metal restraints came out of the armrests and locked, pinning Shadow's wrists to the chair.

"What the-? Release me!" Shadow growled, pulling at his wrists.

Mephiles walked around the table and stood behind Shadow, just barely out of his line of vision. Shadow tensed with a growl.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing much." Mephiles answered, placing a hand on the top of Shadow's head.

Shadow felt an electric current go through him, and grinded his teeth to keep from yelling. The current kept going, and Shadow felt himself get pulled into his mind.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow looked around. He was in a room that looked like an office. There was a couch, a table with a chair, a bookshelf, and a desk with a laptop resting on it.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.

"Your mind. Or at least where you keep all you know abou yourself." Mephiles answered, appearing on the couch. Shadow growled and got into a fighting stance.

"Oh you don't want to fight in here. You damage anything important, it could cause unfortunant problems for you."

Shadow gave him a curious look, not fully trusting him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you want an example," Mephiles stood, turned into mist and raced over to the desk, and returned to his crystalline form, "This little laptop here contains all your memories. If say, it was destroyed or the contents were changed, then it would effect your memories." Mephiles traced the edge of the laptop.

Although Mephiles was the best liar Shadow ever met, something told Shadow the demon was telling the truth about this. He took a weary step towards him.

"Leave it alone Mephiles." he warned.

Mephiles chuckled, before two shadows grabbed Shadow and pulled him to the couch, forcing him to sit. Mephiles picked up the laptop and walked over to the table and sat in the chair, placing the computer on the table. He opened it,and it came on automatically.

"Now then, let's see what you have in here." Mephiles murmered as he messed around on the laptop, opening window after window. Shadow could actually feel things moving around in his head. The shadows kept him from springing at Mephiles.

"Ah, here we go, memories." Mephiles announced. "I wonder what would happen to you if I deleted any of this."

Shadow visabley paled, his pupils shrinking slightly, and he squirmed in the shadows' grip. Fear and panic rose in his throat like sour mush, and his face and body was damp with cold sweat.

"Don't you dare..." he warned, trying to sound serious, but instead his voice was filled with fear.

"Or what? At the moment, you can't stop me from doing anything." Mephiles snickered.

Shadow felt his heartbeat quicken a few beats. "Mephiles...p-please...leave that alone..."

"What are you worried about? It's not like you'll know the differance."

"My memories and everything about me are in there! You can't erase anything!"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you know who to trust."

Shadow gave him a horrified look, then struggled to get free. "No Mephiles! Please don't! Leave my memories alone!"

Mephiles laughed at him. "I'm only deleting stuff from after you woke up from your 50 year nap. That should make it much easier for you to trust me."

Shadow squirmed and fought desperately to get free while Mephiles focused on the screen.

"Alright, let's erase all those useless memories, and get started on your new ones." Mephiles said, pushing a few buttons. Shadow screeched and fought tooth and claw to get free.

"No! Leave my memory alone! Stop! Please Mephiles!" he begged.

Mephiles ignored his pleas, and clicked the mouse. Shadow screamed and squirmed.

"Aaand...delete." Mephiles murmered, clicking the mouse again.

"NOO!" Shadow screamed as he felt his memories from when Eggman awakened him and after slipping away...

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Uh oh, this can't be good. R&R! 


	18. Chapter 18

The B.T. landed on a new planet. A Chaos emerald was nearbye.

"I hope we find Shadow here." Rouge murmered.

"Don't worry Rouge, I know we'll find him." Amy assured her.

The Typhoon crew headed toward town.

Upon arriving, they split up.

Amy, Rouge, and Cosmo made one team, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails made another, Tikal, Shade, and Cream made the third, and Silver, Blaze, and Marine made the fourth.

"Alright. We want to find Shadow and the emerald, but if we can't get both get Shadow out." Sonic explained.

"Right." everyone said. With that, they headed off.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Amy, Rouge, and Cosmo were on the outskirts of town, with only Rouge's wrist device to lead them to the emerald.

"It's somewhere around here. Let's try looking over there." Rouge ordered.

The trio of girls walked along the edge of a cliff, taking care not to slip.

"Are you sure it's over, Rouge?" Amy asked, looking nervously at the ground below.

"I think so. There's some form of strong Chaos energy around here. What else could it be?" Rouge answered, scanning the area with her turquoise eyes. She spotted a figure. It was black, with crimson streaks.

"Hey! It's Shadow!" she yelled.

She spread her wings and flew down toward Shadow. Cosmo gently floated down while Amy clung to her.

Rouge landed and ran up to Shadow.

"Shadow! Boy am I glad we found you! We've been worried. Are you ok?" she asked.

Shadow didn't answer. Rouge gave him a curious gaze and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Shadow?" she asked worriedly.

Shadow didn't answer, then he lifted his arm, palm facing Rouge, and sent her flying backwards into the side of the cliff with a strong wave of Chaos energy.

Rouge hit the cliff and slid to the sandy ground. "Agh!"

Amy and Cosmo ran to her side.

"Rouge!" Cosmo called worriedly, kneeling down next to her as she sat up.

"Hey! What was that for?" Amy exclaimed furiously at Shadow.

Shadow turned and faced them. His eyes held a coldness in them that made the female hedgehog shudder.

"Uh, Shadow? What's wrong?" she asked, stepping back slightly.

Shadow was silent, then flung a Chaos Spear at the girls.

Amy shreiked, and the Chaos Spear appeared to hit them, throwing smoke and dust into the air. When the smoke cleared however, there was a greenish forcefield surrounding the girls. Cosmo had her arms raised, and when she dropped them the shield vanished.

"Cosmo, your powers never cease to amaze." Rouge muttered, standing.

"Thank you." Cosmo said.

"Shadow what is the matter with you?" Amy yelled, glaring at the crimson streaked hedgehog.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but if you know what's good for you you'll stay outta my way." Shadow said coldly.

This shocked the girls.

"What do you mean you don't know who we are? Shadow don't you recognise us?" Rouge asked, taking a tentive step towards him.

Shadow lifted his arm in preperation for a Chaos Spear.

"Wait Shadow! We're your friends, Rouge, Amy, and Cosmo, remember?" Cosmo asked, coming up beside Rouge.

Shadow growled, but lowered his arm.

"I've never met you. Now be a good girl and keep out of other people's business!" Shadow raced off, leaving a trail of sand and three shocked girls behind him.

"He doesn't recognise us, how can that be?" Cosmo asked.

"I don't know Cosmo. Let's get back to the others and tell them what happend." Rouge murmered. The other girls could sense sadness in her voice.

The trio headed back to town.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sonic put a hand above his eyes to block the sunlight and gazed out into the distance.

"So Tails, can you give me a more specific location?" he asked the two tailed fox beside him.

"Sorry Sonic, all I can tell is that it's around here." Tails answered, looking at a small device giving off a pinging noise.

Sonic caught a glint as he scanned the area. He ran over to it.

"Alright, I found it guys!" he announced, pulling the green Chaos emerald from the sand and holding it trumphantly. He saw a blur, then before he could react something plowed into him, sending him flying and the emerald slipped from his hand. He hit the ground, and looked up with a dazed expression.

Shadow stood before them, the green emerald in his hand.

"Shadow? Sheesh if you wanted to hold the emerald all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to nearly run me over." Sonic whined as he stood up.

Shadow looked at him. His ruby eyes studied him for a minute.

"I don't know you." Shadow said, then he took off.

Sonic stared after him for a second. "BRB." he said, then raced off after Shadow.

He caught up with the black hedgehog.

"Hey! Shadow!" he called.

"You certainly are persistent, stranger." Shadow said as Sonic ran up beside him.

"Stranger? What're you talkin about, don't you recognise me, Shadow?"

"No, I don't. You're just like that trio of girls I ran into earlier." Shadow sped up, followed quickly by Sonic.

"You mean Rouge, Amy, and Cosmo? Yeah, they're your friends. And so am I, and those others who were with me. Don't you remember us Shadow?"

"Look, I don't know you. Now if you're gonna cause trouble for me, I'll gladly show you how I handle people that bother me."

"Shadow come on. It's me Sonic."

Shadow turned swifly and did a round house kick, sending Sonic flying into a nearbye rock formation.

"I don't care who you are, you're dead if you try to keep me from delivering this emerald to my master." Shadow growled.

Sonic moaned a little as he stood. "Master? Wait, you don't mean Mephiles do ya? We're supposed to be stopping him from getting the emeralds, not helping him. He's the enemy, Shadow, not your friend."

"You'd have to lie better than that if you wanted me to even consider you were telling the truth."

"I am telling the truth, Shadow. Mephiles isn't your friend. You're OUR friend. We've been friends ever since you defeated the Black Arms, remember?"

"I'm through listening to your lies." Shadow sent a Chaos Spear at Sonic. The blue hedgehog zipped out of the way.

"I don't want to fight you Shadow, but I will if I have to." Sonic said from the top of the rock.

"Bring it on, hedgehog."

The two ran at eachother and collided, causing an explosion that sent up a cloud of dust and smoke.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles chuckled as he watched Shadow and Sonic brawl.

Shadow had been too easy to fool after wiping his memory.

"If I keep this up, I'll have the Chaos emeralds and release Iblis faster than Sonic can run. It shouldn't be too hard. With his memory gone, Shadow's a sucker. He'll beleive anything I say." Mephiles chuckled.

As he watched the two hedgehogs collide a third time, he recalled the events that had transpired after erasing Shadow's memory.

xoxoxoxoxo

_Mephiles got up from the chair and walked over to the couch, where Shadow sat, curled inward and hunched over. Mephiles put a under Shadow's chin and tilted his head up. The hedgehog appeared to be unconcious, but then he let out a soft moan, and his eyes opened halfway, his red eyes filled with confusion and terror. His eyes were red and watery, as if he'd been crying._

_"Who...who are you?" he asked softly. Mephiles laughed._

_"So you don't remember?"_

_"Remember what?"_

_Mephiles chuckled, and he moved his hand up to Shadow's forehead. A purple aura surrounded it, then passed into Shadow. Shadow's eyes widened for a second, then slowly closed, and he fell back on the couch. He vanished, then Mephiles soon after._

_Mephiles removed his hand from Shadow's head. Shadow's head fell back, resting on the back of the chair. Shadow was unconcious._

_Mephiles undid the the metal restraints, and carried Shadow over to the bed._

_"All I have to do now is wait for him to wake up." Mephiles murmered to himself. He took a seat in the chair and waited. He could be very patient when he wanted to be. If he had to wait for the hedgehog to wake up in order to accomplish his goal, then so be it._

xoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles snickered. "Sonic doesn't stand a chance against Shadow when he has no idea who Sonic is, which means nothing's holding him back. This should be quite entertaining. I might even keep him around after he's outlived his usefulness."

At that moment, three figures running towards the fight caught his eye.

"Great, just when things were getting good." he muttered.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Rouge, Amy, and Cosmo ran toward the fight between the two hedgehogs.

"Shadow, Sonic! Stop!" Cosmo yelled.

"Hey, tell him! Not me!" Sonic yelled back, jumping out of the way of a Chaos Spear.

"Shadow, stop! It's me Rouge, remember? We're your friends!" Rouge called to the jet black hedgehog.

"Do you really think he'll fall for that?" a voice asked. Mephiles landed beside Shadow.

"Mephiles! What'd you do to Shadow?" Rouge exclaimed angrily.

"I've done nothing. I want to help him, unlike you pessimistic brats."

"What! You lying, twisted little jerk!"

"Shadow! Don't listen to him! We're your friends, not Mephiles!" Amy shouted.

Shadow's eyes narrowed angrily, but everyone could see a hint of confusion in them.

"You can't really be buying their story? They just want to use you." Mephiles insisted. Shadow thought for a minute, then he glared at Sonic and co.

"No Shadow! Don't listen to him!" Cosmo yelled desperately.

"HE'S the one using you!" Sonic called.

"Please beleive us Shadow!" Rouge insisted.

Shadow sent Chaos Spears at them. They screamed and ran out of the way. Rouge took to the air.

'What happened to Shadow?' she thought. It didn't matter right now though, Shadow was attacking her friends, and she had to defend them.

"Sorry Shadow! I don't want to do this!" she spun and flew at Shadow. Shadow jumped out of the way and sent a Chaos Spear at her. It hit its mark, and Rouge let out a yelp as she spiraled toward the ground.

"Rouge!" Cosmo yelled. Sonic jumped and caught her. He landed beside the other girls and set her down.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled. He and Knuckles ran up.

"What's going on?" Knuckles asked.

"I really don't know." Sonic answered.

"Either way, Shadow! Pick on someone your own size!" Knuckles raised his fists.

"Uh, are you sure about this Knuckles?" Cosmo asked nervously.

"Sure, besides, I've always wanted to shadow box."

Sonic stood beside Knuckles. "Alright, then I'll take Mephiles."

The two nodded, then ran at the twosome.

Mephiles sent Sonic flying backwards, and Shadow Spindashed into Knuckles, sending the echidna skidding across the sand.

"This might be tougher than I thought..." Knuckles muttered.

"As much as I'd love to stay and teach you not to get in my way, Shadow and I have other important things to do." Mephiles opened a portal, and he and Shadow stepped into it and disappeared.

"No Shadow, wait!" Rouge yelled, reaching an arm toward the portal as it vanished.

Everyone stared at the spot it had been.

"What do you think Mephiles did to Shadow?" Amy asked.

"I don't know, Amy. Let's get back to the Blue Typhoon and let everybody know about Shadow. Let's go guys." Sonic said.

Everyone nodded, and headed back for the ship.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow stared out the window into space, deep in thought.

"How is it those strangers knew my name?" he murmered aloud.

"They're a tricky bunch. They can't be trusted." Mephiles, who entered the room, answered.

"They acted as if they knew me. I don't recall ever meeting them."

"They do their research obviously. But it's like I said, they only want to use you to get the emeralds and destroy the world."

Shadow nodded. "Right. Here." Shadow pulled out the emerald and held it out to Mephiles. Mephiles took the emerald.

"We only have to find one more, then get the other 5 from those brats." he chuckled.

Shadow continued to stare out the window. He didn't know why, but Mephiles' laugh seem to set him on edge, as if it scared him. Which was stupid, nothing scared him. Certainly not Mephiles, who was nice enough to let him stay on this ship, and let him know who the true enemy was.

Still, something was nagging at the back of his mind that something was wrong.

'Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it's nothing.' he thought.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Hope you liked. This was more of a time killer chapter until I can think of a better one. R&R!


	19. Chapter 19

Rouge sighed.

'Why didn't Shadow recognise me?' she wondered.

'Mephiles must've done something. But how can you make someone forget who his friends are? Maybe Cosmo can answer that.'

Rouge went to find the Seedrian.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow stared out the window at the passing stars.

'Who were those strangers, and how did they know my name?' he thought with a mental sigh.

'Mephiles says they just want to use me, but for some reason something tells me differantly. Why do I always feel coldness when he laughs or speaks? Who is he?'

At that moment, Mephiles walked in.

"Shadow, I trust you're feeling well rested?" Mephiles asked.

"Yes. But I'm confused. How is it those people knew me? If what you say is true, they shouldn't know anything about me."

Shadow could've swore he saw Mephiles' slitted eyes narrow, but it happened so fast he couldn't be sure.

"I told you. They only want to use you for their own purposes." Mephiles assured him.

"I don't know, though. They seemed to be to telling the truth. Maybe I should talk to them-"

"No!" Mephiles growled suddenly. A minute of silence passed, and Shadow was looking at Mephiles with curiousity and shock.

"Ahm, no. You can't trust them Shadow, I assure you." Mephiles said.

"Hm, ok, if you say so." Shadow looked back out the window thoughtfully.

'Now I'm sure there's something wrong. Looks like I'll have to figure things out myself...'

Mephiles eyed Shadow thoughtfully. 'He's getting suspicious. If I have to do another memory wipe, that's going to be troublesome.'

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Sorry Rouge, I can't think of how Mephiles could wipe Shadow's memory." Cosmo apologised.

Rouge sighed. "That's okay. Thanks anyway. I just can't beleive he lost his memory AGAIN. It's kind of annoying. How are we supposed to bring his memory back?"

"I don't know. Maybe my powers could help. I have healing powers, maybe they heal the mind as well as physical injuries."

"Well, we won't know till we try. But how are we supposed to do that?"

"We could talk to him."

"Yeah, look how well that worked out."

The two girls sighed.

Suddenly Marine & Cocoa ran into the room.

"You two aren't gonna beleive who we got on the moniter."she panted.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked hopefully.

Marine shook her head. "You gotta come see this."

The young raccoon ran off, followed by her chao. Cosmo and Rouge looked at eachother, then followed.

"YOU?" Rouge exclaimed angrily.

Mephiles chuckled. "My, you don't look too happy to see me."

"I'm not."

"I assume you want to know how your dear Shadow is?"

"What'd you do to him? How did you make him forget us?"

"Oh, simple really. I entered his mind, tapped into his memories, and erasing them was a cinch."

"You erased his memories? You b-"

"Now, now, there's no need for that kind of language, especially with such young children around."

Rouge gritted her teeth and hissed a little.

"We will find a way to restore his memory." Cosmo declared.

"Hmhm, good luck, plant girl."

The screen went black.

"Get him back on the moniter!" Rouge ordered furiously.

"Uh Rouge, he's the one who cancelled the transmission. I can't get him back if he's the one who turned it off." Tails explained nervously.

"I hate that demon!"

Mephiles reappeared on the screen. "I heard that."

"Get off our moniter!" Rouge retorted, she turned to Tails. "Get him off the moniter!"

"You just said to get him back ON."

"Well now I want him off!"

Tails yelped a little and turned off the moniter.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles chuckled.

"There's no chance of them finding out how to restore Shadow's memory. There are only 2 ways. Chances are, Shadow will never regain his memory." Mephiles cackled wickedly.

Outside the room, Shadow listened in on Mephiles' conversation.

'Mephiles...erased my memories?...I really am those people's friend? How do I regain my memories?' he thought. His ears perked up when he heard footsteps coming towards the door. He quickly and quietly raced off.

Mephiles entered the hallway. He looked around for a minute, then started down the hall towards his room.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"So, does anyone have any ideas?" Sonic asked.

"...Maybe the Chaos emeralds will help?" Tikal suggested.

"It's worth a shot."

"So, we're just gonna HAND 'em over to Shadow, who thinks we're his enemies and Mephiles is his friend?" Knuckles asked increduously.

"Exactly." Sonic replied.

"Are you crazy! What if he takes them and gives them to Mephiles? Then he'll have 6! If he gets that last emerald, he'll unleash Iblis, and then we're all doomed!"

"That's just a risk we'll have to take."

"No way! I'm not gonna-" Knuckles was cut off when Rouge approached him with a furious glare.

"Care to finish that sentence?" she asked in a low, threataning voice.

"Not really."

"Good boy. Now, how do we get Shadow to trust us enough to try this?"

"I dunno, we'll just have to figure this out as we go." Sonic said.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Mephiles' ship, a few hours later...

Shadow opened his door, and peered into the hall. It was dark. He quietly stepped into the hallway, then silently raced to the computer.

Once he arrived, he turned on the large computer. He hacked into the GUN database, and started opening files.

"GUN should have something helpful in here somewhere..." he murmered.

He skimmed over the various files on the screen, then stopped upon reaching one.

"Project S.H.A.D.O.W..." He highlighted it, and printed it out.

Meanwhile, Mephiles was passing through the hall Shadow's room was located in. He reached Shadow's door, and frowned a little up seeing it open a bit. He pushed it open. The room was empty.

'Hm, I wonder if he's...'

Mephiles growled slightly, and left the room.

Back with Shadow.

Shadow finished reading the paper, and growled lowly in his throat.

"That demon lied to me..."

Mephiles got to the hallway with the computer room, and saw light coming from it.

He started towards the room. "Shadow, Shadow, Shadow..." he sighed as he shook his head.

Shadow heard footsteps getting closer, and hurriedly shut off the computer. He wrote something on the back of the paper, and faxed it to the B.T.

"Shadow..." he heard Mephiles growl. He whipped around and faced the demon.

"You lied. You said I didn't know those people." Shadow growled.

"You still don't remember them, do you?"

"No, but I know enough to know you aren't trying to help me. You're the one using me."

"So what if I am? Only I can restore your memory. If you want it back, you'll continue doing as I say."

"Forget it."

Shadow charged at him, fist glowing with Chaos energy.

Mephiles ducked, and sent a blast of purple dark energy at Shadow. Shadow was thrown back, but held his ground.

Shadow sent a Chaos Spear at him, and sent Mephiles flying into the wall.

'This guy's tough, I might need that emerald. Or maybe...those people can help me...it's worth a shot...' Shadow thought.

Shadow raced out of the room, shutting the door in the process, and raced toward the room that held the emerald. He heard a loud explosion and something shattering, and knew Mephiles must've gotten the door open in his own way.

Shadow reached the room, Spindashed through the shadows guarding it, smashed the glass, and grabbed the emerald.

"Chaos Control now."

The emerald glew brilliantly, and the last thing Shadow saw before teleporting were 2 green eyes glaring madly at him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Well, I hope this satisfys you guys till next chapter. I had a little writers block, but I think I got back on track. Until next time, R&R! 


	20. Chapter 20

Rouge sighed as she stared out the front window at the passing stars.

"I wish I could think of a way to make Shadow remember us." she murmered.

"Don't worry about it." a voice behind her assured her. She turned and saw Sonic.

"Shadow's lost his memory before and regained it, right?"

"I guess, but Mephiles says there's only 2 ways for him to regain it, and we don't even know ONE! How are we supposed ta-"

Rouge stopped when she saw a yellowish glow behind Sonic. The cobalt hedgehog turned and stared at the glow.

"That looks like..."

"Chaos Control." Rouge finished.

Shadow appeared out of the glow, and landed on one foot and one knee.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled.

Shadow stood and looked at her suspiciously.

"I still don't know who you are," he said, and Rouge's face fell, "But I do know Mephiles isn't on my side, nor I his."

"So, do you trust us?" Sonic asked.

Shadow took a deep breath. "Not completely, but enough to work with you to regain my memory."

"Ok, did you figure out how?"

"I don't know. But something tells me these emeralds might help." Shadow held up the emerald.

"The Chaos emerald!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Maybe all the emeralds we have combined can bring Shadow's memory back." Sonic suggested.

"It's worth a shot."

"Alright, let's find the others and try this."

xoxoxoxoxo

After finding the rest of the Typhoon crew, everyone gathered at the bridge.

"So, you really think this will work?" Amy asked.

"We don't have any other options." Blaze replied.

Shadow, Sonic, Rouge, and Cosmo were holding the 6 emeralds.

"So, how does this work?" Cosmo asked.

"Well, we want to restore Shadow's memories, so maybe saying Chaos and restoration will do something." Sonic said thoughtfully.

"Have you ever tried that?"

"No, I'm not even sure it's a real word." Sonic rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, we don't have anything else to try." Rouge stated.

"Okay, let's try it." Shadow said.

"One more question, why am I helping if I can't control the Chaos emeralds?" Cosmo asked.

"Cuz you said your powers might be able to help with this, so maybe the Chaos emeralds will enhance your powers." Rouge replied.

"Alright, I'm ready."

"CHAOS RESTORATION!" the group yelled as one.

'Please work...' Rouge begged mentally.

The emeralds gave off a brilliant, golden glow, blinding everyone.

Shadow was surrounded by the light. Strangely he wasn't effected by the glow.

After a minute, the glow dimmed, then faded altogether.

The others stared at Shadow nervously, holding their breath. His eyes were closed in concentration. Then they opened, and he gazed at them.

"What happened? How'd I get here?" he asked.

"Aw heck! We must've erased his WHOLE memory!" Sonic exclaimed.

"No, my memory is perfectly fine. I mean how'd I get here? The last thing I remember was Mephiles grabbing me, then forcing his way into my mind, and erasing my memories."

"Actually, if you got them back, they were more likely supressed. Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get them back." Cosmo explained.

"Whatever. What'd I miss? When did we get the 6th emerald?"

"Well, Mephiles had you working for him, you got the emerald, and fought with us for a minute. We don't know what happened before you showed up here a few minutes ago." Sonic explained.

"I did WHAT now?"

"Eh, it's a long story. But the important thing is you're back. And we only have to find one more emerald. This'll be a cinch."

"Uh, Sonic, we don't know where it is." Tails stated.

"Well, we'll find it, eventually. For now, I say we all get a good sleep."

Everyone headed for their rooms, except Shadow. Rouge stayed as well.

"You ok?" she asked.

"I will be. I just need some sleep." Shadow replied, heading for the door.

'Shadow...' Rouge thought worriedly.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow growled to himself as he flopped onto his bed.

'Help? I helped MEPHILES?' he thought angrily.

'Why the heck would I help him...I attacked my friends? Why would they help me even after I attacked them? Friends aren't supposed to fight, so why would they help me?'

Friendship was sometimes difficult for Shadow to grasp. After Maria died, he refused to get close to anyone. Others thought he was just rude and antisocial, but the real reason was, he was afraid. Afraid to get close to others. He didn't want to go through the pain of losing someone again, he didn't think he could bear it.

He let out a sigh.

'These guys are either the friendliest people I've ever met, or the craziest.' he thought.

With that, he fell asleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

R&R. 


	21. Chapter 21

Shadow looked around. Where ever he was, it was by far the strangest place he'd ever been, and that was saying something. It looked like a long corridor, and the walls were lined with doors.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.

"Shadow..." a voice called faintly.

Shadow gritted his teeth. That voice belonged to Mephiles.

"Mephiles, where are you?" he replied.

"Just follow my voice..."

"Yeah, that's gonna happen." Shadow turned and started walking. He didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't going to follow Mephiles' voice into a trap.

"You don't have a choice."

Shadow felt a searing pain in his chest, and he fell to one knee.

"Now come here..." Mephiles ordered. Shadow growled, then got to his feet and started towards where the demon's voice was coming from.

He traversed through a series of hallways, and came upon a hallway with only one door at the end of the dead end corridor. A sinister aura was eminating from it.

"Now open the door and come on in..." Mephiles' voice snickered from behind the door. Shadow clenched his hands into fists. Maybe he shouldn't have followed him...

"I said, come IN."

Shadow felt some force yank him towards the door, and he found himself standing directly in front of it.

He put a hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and turned the handle and entered the room.

He saw Mephiles standing next to a cage, his green eyes full of amuzment.

"Welcome Shadow."

"What do you want?" Shadow snapped.

Mephiles motioned for him to come over next to him. Shadow looked at him for a minute, then crossed his arms. Anyone who knew him would know that body language meant 'Yeah right, Jack.'

"Difficult as always." Mephiles muttered, then motioned again. This time, Shadow felt that force yank him again, bringing to stand next to Mephiles, facing the cage.

"This is a very special room." Mephiles murmered.

"What do you mean?"

"It holds something powerful...and dangerous."

"What're you talking about?"

"It's something you fight everyday."

"You're beating around the bush, just spit it out!" Shadow's patience, which had already been cut short, finally snapped.

A low growl reverberated from the cage. It was dark inside, making it impossible to see into the depths. Shadow shot a curious glance before glaring back at Mephiles.

"You could say it holds...the other you. The one you try to keep hidden from others." Mephiles chuckled. Shadow's eyes widened slightly, before looking back into the cage.

"Did you really think keeping it locked up would prevent it from escaping?" Mephiles laughed.

"K-Kinda more of a hope than a thought..." Shadow murmered, still eyeing the cage. Mephiles laughed again.

He walked over to the door of the barred prison, and eyed the lock.

"That doesn't look like a very durable lock."

Shadow growled, though fear still showed in his eyes.

"I wonder what would happen if I let this part of you out..."

Shadow lunged at Mephiles, but the demon stepped to the side, dodging, and Shadow flew by him. Mephiles grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm behind his back, and pressed him against the bars, pinning him there. Shadow growled as he struggled to break free.

"You know, the other you was alot more powerful. It defeated the Black Arms, Iblis, even me on occasion. It was worth fighting. This you, right now, heh, you're not even worth killing." Mephiles taunted as he held Shadow still.

Something stirred in the cage, and approached them, though the darkness still hid it from sight. He couldn't see it, but Shadow could feel it close to his face, which was pressed against the bars. It growled, and he felt its breath ghost across his face.

"You can't let him out..." Shadow whispered, slightly trembling.

"What're you gonna do if I do?"

"Please, DON'T let him out..."

"I don't know, things might get exciting with the darkness in you set free."

"I'm telling you, you can't, if you do, there's no telling what'll happen-"

"Oh I know what'll happen, you see, the other you and I have been having a nice little chat. We struck a little deal. I set him free, and he does me a few favors. Namely, stop your friends and gather the emeralds. The other, he keeps you locked in your mind so I can have some fun with you. It's a win-win situation for both of us."

"The day I let you let this thing free is the day I die!"

"Tempting as that is, that won't get me the emeralds. So, while I work on this lock, why don't you go have a seat in that nice little office of yours." Mephiles opened a portal and shoved Shadow into it. He turned to the lock.

"Alright, let's see how tough this thing really is." he created an orb in one hand, taking the lock in the other.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow fell into the office of his mind, the portal disappearing as he stood.

He looked to where the door usually was, only to find, to his dismay, it was gone. Nothing but bare wall.

"Mephiles!" he shouted. He flung a Chaos Spear at the wall where the door had been, hoping to blast his way through, but it barely left a smudge on the wall. Despite that, he kept sending a barrage of Chaos Spears at the wall, desperate to get out, to stop Mephiles from carrying out this plan.

xoxoxoxoxxoxo

Mephiles let out a laugh as the destroyed lock fell to the floor with a clang. The cage door opened, and a shadowy figure moved within. It let out a roar, and darkness pulsated from it in waves. Mephiles, if he'd had mouth, would've been smirking.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow stopped and noticed the dark waves. He began pounding on the wall.

"Don't let him out!" he shouted as he pounded on the wall.

He heard laughter, but he knew it wasn't from Mephiles, for once.

He put his forehead on the wall, whimpering in defeat.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Shadow slowly opened his eyes. Well, actually, it wasn't exactly Shadow, but the darker him.

He sat up, then slowly grinned, his fangs showing.

This was going to be fun...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sorry it's been a while, hope you like! R&R! 


	22. Chapter 22

'Shadow' walked to the bridge where Rouge, Sonic, Tails, and Cosmo were all hanging around in.

"Hey, Shad, sleep well?" Sonic asked with a chuckle.

'Shadow' looked at him and smirked. "Just fine."

Sonic stared at him in the eye for a second. Something seemed...off about Shadow. His eyes seemed to hold a coldness in them. Not like when Mephiles had supressed his memories, but a little more like when they'd first met. Superior, with a slight hint of hatred.

"You feelin' alright?" Sonic asked.

"I told you I'm fine." Shadow retorted, then turned away.

Sonic shrugged, and chalked it up to what had recently taken place with Mephiles.

"We think we might have found the last Chaos emerald." Tails explained as Shadow looked at him. Tails couldn't help but shudder. Shadow's eyes were off putting, looking like when he'd attacked Tails and Cosmo.

"Good." Shadow replied simply.

"Hey Shad." Rouge called. Shadow focused his red eyes on her. She noticed something was differant about them.

"What?" he snapped.

"You seemed a little upset earlier, so I just wanted to let you know we don't blame you for what happened. No matter what we're still your friends."

Shadow's eyes flashed. Rouge took notice of this. For a brief second, she could've swore she saw something; Shadow's eyes, which up till then had held coldness in them, had a pleading look, as if he was begging her to help him. His eyes quickly changed back to a harsh glare.

"Right, whatever." he growled. He crossed his arms and stared ahead out the large window into space.

Rouge gave him a worried look. _'What was that? It looked like...he was in trouble or something...maybe I'm just tired...'_

Cosmo meanwhile, had been staring at Shadow with an intense look.

_'Something's wrong...Shadow's presense seems...differant...Something's not right about him...' _she thought as she stared at him. He turned his head toward her, and his red eyes glared daggers at her. She gasped and quickly shifted her gaze to the stars out the window.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow growled to himself as he sent another Chaos Spear at the wall. So far all he'd managed to do was singe the wall slightly.

Finally losing whatever patience he had left, he Spindashed at the wall and tried to break through the wall. After about 20 seconds, he pushed away from the wall and uncurled, landing on his feet. He stalked over to the couch and plopped down on it, crossing his arms in agitated defeat.

"I was wondering when you'd finally give up." a voice chuckled. Mephiles appeared out of thin air.

"I'm not giving up, I'm simply taking a break." Shadow retorted.

"However you want to look at it." Mephiles snickered as he sat down next to him. Shadow made an obvious attempt to distance himself from the crystalline demon, pressing against the arm of the sofa. Mephiles laughed.

"I hear your friends might have found the emerald." he stated as he examined his claws.

"...Okay, so what? I'll be out of here by then." Shadow muttered.

"I wouldn't count on that. You can't get out of this room unless I allow it."

"It's my mind, I beleive _**I'M **_the one in control."

"You're not, actually."

Shadow gave him a curious glare. "What do you mean?"

"Do you recall your last visit to the Dark room?" Mephiles asked.

Unintentionally, Shadow slightly shuddered as the events played through his mind again. All he could see were claws, green eyes, and beyond that darkness, and he could hear his own screams.

Mephiles chuckled. "Well, while you were unconcious, I planted a little...seed of darkness, you could call it, in your mind, and it opens soo many doors to new ways of fun. Releasing the darkness within you was just one of them."

Shadow had wide eyed, horrified look on his face. "Wh-what? You did what?"

Mephiles' eyes narrowed in amuzment. "I can also see and hear everything you do, and even some you don't, I can tell everything you're thinking. As long as that seed is in your mind, I'll always have a door into this quaint little room, where I can learn anything I want about you, and if you're weak enough, take control."

Shadow's expression had slowly transitioned from horrified to terrified. He slowly stood.

"Y-you...but...I..." he was too stunned to speak.

Mephiles chuckled and stood, slowly making his way towards Shadow, who backed away.

"I know everything that goes on around you," he murmered, continuing towards the black hedgehog, "I know everything you hate, love." Mephiles chuckled as he backed Shadow into a corner. He placed his hands on either side of Shadow's head, preventing escape. His next sentence came out in a cold whisper.

"And I know everything you fear, too."

Shadow's eyes had by now widened as much as they could, his pupils had shrunk to the size of pinpricks, and a cold sweat covered his face.

Mephiles' eyes narrowed with pleasure as he took in Shadow's terrified appearance. This was the kind of thing he lived for.

"Not that there's a long list," He continued, "There's really only two things. The darker side of you."

Mephiles leaned in so Shadow's eyes and his own were mere inches apart.

"And me." he finished.

Shadow's breath came out in broken pants, and his entire body was shaking.

Mephiles laughed as he stepped away from Shadow.

"I'll check in on you later." he said, sinking into the floor.

Shadow's knees buckled, and he slowly slid to the ground, leaning against the wall. He constantly had to wipe sweat from his eyes, but it didn't take him long to realize he was crying.

Fear, sadness, and hopelessness washed through him. More and more tears came, and before long he was sobbing.

_'Somebody help me!'_

xoxoxoxoxo

Sorry if they seem too short, this came to me literally 5 minutes ago! Hope you enjoy my story so far! R&R!


	23. Chapter 23

The BT landed on a deserted planet covered in rocks and sand.

"Alright everyone, the emerald should be on this planet, unless the scanners wrong. Shadow, do you sense anything?" Tails asked.

"It's here alright." 'Shadow' replied.

By now, everyone had noticed something strange going on with Shadow, he was acting differant. More quiet and cold than what they were used to.

But nobody pressed the subject, thinking it was merely because he felt uncomfortable about what happened recently.

"Well then, let's go guys." Tails said.

"No, some of us should stay here to make sure no one takes the emeralds we already have." Shadow suggested.

"Shad's got a point." Sonic pointed out.

"Alright, then me and Shadow'll go find the Chaos emerald, you guys can stay here and keep an eye out for our friend Mephie." Rouge said.

"Just two people searching?" Knuckles asked.

"With Shadow around, we'll find it in no time. No worries."

"Ok, good luck. Call if you need help." Sonic said.

"See ya later. Come on Shadow, let's find that precious gem." Rouge headed for the door, Shadow following.

xoxoxoxoxo

After a few minutes, Rouge and Shadow stood atop a cliff.

"The Chaos emerald should be around here somewhere." Dark Shadow muttered.

Rouge turned to him with an accusing glare.

"Ok, I don't know who you are, or how you took control of Shadow, but I want you out and Shadow back! The real Shadow!" she growled.

Dark Shadow grinned evily, showing off his fangs.

"Technically I AM the real Shadow, the one Shadow used to be before he met you and your little friends."

"I know the real Shadow, and you're not him! He's a caring guy who would do anything to protect us!" Rouge retorted.

Dark Shadow scoffed. "He used to be powerful, a true force to be reckoned with. Then YOU had to show up, and weaken him, which made him lock me away in the process. But no matter, thanks to a new 'friend' of his, I'm free to do whatever I want."

"Who do you mean?"

"Oh you know him already."

"Mephiles did this? I guess I can't say I'm surprised."

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way. That emerald's mine."

Dark Shadow started walking off, but Rouge jumped in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"As if I'm just gonna let you walk off. You have two choices right now." she growled.

Dark Shadow glared at her.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow sighed as he sat on the couch. He'd regained his composure about an hour ago, and now he was just bored.

Mephiles rose up from the floor.

"What do you want now?" Shadow snapped.

"Thought I'd give you an update. Your little girlfriend's quite a nuisence." Mephiles replied.

"She's NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"That's not what it says in this notebook." Mephiles held up a spiral bound notebook, and opened it to a page. "According to this little paragraph, you have quite a romantic interest in her-"

"Give me that!" Shadow snapped, snatching the journal from him with a glare.

"Anyway, she's being very pessimistic." Mephiles pointed at the wall, and it shimmered, then a orb appeared on it, and an image appeared in the purple sphere.

Rouge was standing in front of Dark Shadow, an angry scowl on her face.

"You have two choices right now. One, you can give Shadow back full control of his body, or two, I can kick the crud out of you until you agree to it." she growled.

Shadow was both happy and nervous at the same time. He was happy Rouge could tell when something was wrong with him, but he was nervous because the other him was getting mad, and he knew he'd attack her without hesitation.

"She's determined, I'll give her that." Mephiles remarked.

"Come on Rouge, don't be stupid..." Shadow murmered as he watched Rouge and the other him glaring at eachother.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that." Mephiles chuckled.

The Dark Shadow jumped into the air, then Spindashed at the bat.

Rouge yelped and took to the air. Dark Shadow followed her and rammed into her. She sailed through the air, then caught herself and hovered.

"The real Shadow knows how to treat a lady." she grumbled as Dark Shadow landed on his feet.

xoxoxoxo

Shadow rolled his eyes and face palmed. "She's too full of herself sometimes..."

"I'll say." Mephiles snickered.

xoxoxoxo

Dark Shadow smirked and sent a Chaos Spear at her. She flew out of the way, but Dark Shadow jumped into the air in front of her with a sinister grin.

"Uh oh..." she muttered.

He sent a Chaos Spear at her, and hit home.

Rouge spiraled toward the ground.

xoxoxoxo

"Come on Rouge!" Shadow growled.

xoxoxoxo

Rouge opened her eyes, and managed to spread her wings and land gently on the ground. Dark Shadow landed a few feet away from her.

_'This is going to be tougher than I thought...' _she thought as she caught her breath._ 'But I'm not giving up! Shadow's in there, I saw it, I just need to bring him out...how the heck do I do that?'_

She cut her thoughts short as she jumped out of the way of another Chaos Spear.

_'Maybe talking to him will help...'_

She thought hard about it, and figured that was really her only option. Now she had to figure out a way to do that while avoiding attacks.

xoxoxoxoxo

Will Rouge succeed? Will Shadow regain control? Will the Chaos emerald be found? Why am I asking you all these questions?

Lol, R&R!


	24. Chapter 24

Rouge flew at Dark Shadow and aimed a round house kick at his head, but he blocked it with his arm, grabbed her arm, and threw her into the side of the cliff. He felt Shadow's despair ripple through him, and smirked.

_'Enjoy the show.'_ he thought, knowing Shadow would hear him.

Rouge sat up and rubbed her head, then slowly stood.

"Shadow, I know you're in there, and I know you can hear me. Fight him Shadow! I know you can!" she shouted desperately.

Dark Shadow shook his head with a chuckle, and sent a Chaos Spear at her. She ducked out of the way and stood again.

"Come on Shadow, you're the one who said 'I'll never let anybody control me.' Was that a lie? You know how I feel about you lying to me." she scolded with her hands on hips.

"Give up, he's not strong enough to overpower me." Dark Shadow scoffed.

"Don't underestimate him, pal. Shadow doesn't give up, and neither will I!" Rouge flew at him and kicked him across the face.

Dark Shadow growled, and sent a Chaos Spear at her.

xoxoxoxoxo

Shadow was watching the fight, deep in thought.

"She's deluded. If you were strong enough to regain control, you would have already." Mephiles chuckled.

Shadow shut his eyes in concentration.

_'Rouge...thank you.'_ he thought.

A faint red glow surrounded him. Mephiles didn't notice at first.

"If this keeps up much longer, your little girlfriend will have lived a short life." he snickered, looking at Shadow. He saw the red glow a split second before Shadow Spindashed at the wall again, and this time, he broke through. He kept going till he reached the room with the cage, Mephiles' furious shouts fading behind him.

xoxoxoxoxo

Rouge ducked out of the way of the Chaos Spear again, but Dark Shadow grabbed her arm again and threw her against the sandy ground. He charged up another Chaos Spear. She knew she wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. She brought her arms up in a futile attempt to protect herself.

Suddenly there was a shout. She cautiously peered over her arms.

Dark Shadow was on one knee, gripping his head in pain.

"Impossible...he can't have escaped..." he growled through gritted teeth.

Rouge got up and tentavely stepped toward him. "Shadow...? Can you hear me?"

"Get away from me!" Dark Shadow shouted, sending a Chaos Spear at her, missing by a long shot.

"You're not locking me away again...not now!" he growled.

Rouge thought she could just pick up a faint trace of fear in his voice.

Dark shadow abruptly stood and took a step backwards.

"This...is MY body..."

Rouge could hear the real Shadow's voice breaking through.

Dark Shadow gave a final dragged scream, before it stopped. His pupils shrunk as small as they would get, and he collapsed to the ground.

Rouge ran over to him and knelt down beside him. She gently rolled him onto his back and shook his shoulder.

"Shadow?"

xoxoxoxo

Shadow glared at the now locked cage, a new lock on it.

"This time you're not getting out." he growled.

There was a growl from the depthes of the cage. Shadow turned and headed for the door, and closed it after leaving the room.

xoxoxoxo

His eyes slowly opened, and he was met with a pair of concerned turquoise eyes.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked tentavely.

"Rouge...are you ok?" he asked, sitting up.

"Me? I'm not the one who fainted."

"You were fighting me though, you're not hurt are you?"

"You kiddin'? I've been through worse shopping on Black Friday."

Shadow had to chuckle, then looked at the ground next to him.

"What's wrong?" Rouge asked.

Shadow dug into the sand, and bright rays of light shot out.

"We found it. Good thing we found after you regained control." Rouge murmered. Shadow pulled the red emerald out of the sand.

"I'm sorry, Rouge. I tried but I couldn't stop him." Shadow murmered.

"You did too stop him. You overpowered him and locked him back up. If that's not strength, I don't know what is."

"I guess. We should head back to the ship."

"Yeah, wait till the others learn we found the emerald."

"That's not what I was worried about all this time! I was worried about you!"

"I'm fine, Shad. I fought the Metarex and Eggman, and Mephiles too. I can take care of myself you know."

"You were fighting me, Rouge."

"So?"

"So? Rouge, you got hurt and it was because of me!"

"I'm _fine_, Shadow. Why are you so upset?"

"Because I can't lose you! You mean too much to me for me to lose you!"

"...You care about me that much?"

"Of course I do!"

"Wow, talk about best friends."

"You're more than just my best friend, Rouge! I lo-" Shadow cut himself off quickly, blushing slightly.

Rouge stared at him for what seemed like eternity before speaking.

"You what?"

"Nothing. Let's get back to the ship." Shadow replied, standing.

"First, tell me what you were going to say."

"Nothing important. Let's go."

"Obviously it was, you're still blushing."

Shadow's face reddened further.

Rouge smiled, and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

Shadow went rigid for a second, then relaxed and gave Rouge a confused and nervous look.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"You think I'm dumb? I know when someone's into someone. But you make it easier, cuz I can read you like an open book."

Shadow looked away, his face the color of his quills.

"So, when did you start getting attracted to me?"

"...Kinda maybe when we first met..."

"I knew you weren't just starin' at me for nothin."

"Let's get back to the ship."

"Denying it only makes me beleive it."

Shadow chuckled, then pulled her close, and held up the Chaos emerald.

"Chaos Control now."

They were surrounded by a bright red glow, and vanished.

xoxoxoxo

Rouge's first stop on the BT was the medical bay, though she insisted she was fine, but Shadow refused to let her do anything before having her injuries checked.

Except for a few scrapes and a bruise, she was fine.

"What happened?" Cosmo asked.

Shadow and Rouge looked at eachother, then Shadow looked away guiltily.

"We...had some trouble getting the emerald, but we're fine." Rouge answered, waving it off.

Cosmo shrugged and left, leaving them alone.

"So, where were we?" Rouge asked.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked.

"I beleive we were making a break through with your romantic feelings."

"Tee hee. Very funny."

"Still, I didn't quite give you my side of the story."

"You're side?"

"Maybe it'd be easier just to show you."

Shadow was about to ask what that meant, when Rouge walked up to him and pressed her lips against his. He was shocked at first, but then kissed her back, taking her hands in his.

Outside in the hall, Sonic was passing by, eating a chilidog, when he spotted the two. He nearly choked on his snack, and ducked under the window sill. He peeked around the edge of the door frame, and pulled out a camera. He snapped a picture of them, then took off down the hall.

_'I knew those two were more than just friends! Wait till I show Knuckles!'_ he thought with a mischevious grin.

"SONIIIIIC!" he heard Shadow shout furiously.

Sonic laughed, and sped up, heading for the computer room to print some copies.

xoxoxoxo

Sonic's a dead man-er, hedgehog. Hehe, finally I get to the Shadouge, except now we're nearing the end of this story. Hope you like, R&R!


	25. Chapter 25

The BT was moving through space, on course for Mobius. Now that they had all the emeralds, returning home was on everyone's mind.

Sort of.

Sonic had staying alive on his mind as well. After taking a pic of Rouge and Shadow kissing, and printing copies and handing them out, he'd had to avoid Shadow for 3 hours before Tikal got Shadow to agree to not kill Sonic until they arrived home, where there was more space for everyone to run and hide, and it would give Sonic a chance to run.

He had the brains to stay on the other side of the room from Shadow. Everyone noticed Shadow and Rouge were standing a lot closer to eachother than before they'd set out on this trip.

"Shadow and Rouge, sittin' in a spaceship, K-I-S-S-I-N-G..." Marine sung to herself, Cocoa giggling with her, careful to keep it low enough so Shadow wouldn't hear them. However, Rouge gave them both a sharp look.

'_Whoops, forgot her bionic hearing...'_ the raccoon thought to herself as she gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"So, are we almost there?" Silver asked.

"Almost. We still have a ways to go, but hyper drive will get us there in no time. It needs to charge though, so we'll probably do it tommarow." Tails replied.

"In the mean time, it's late. We should all get some rest." Blaze put in.

"Blaze is right. Let's hit the hay." Sonic said. Shadow gave him a harsh glare before turning and heading for the door.

"Oy, Sonic, in yer will, can ya leave me yer TV?" Marine asked smuggly.

"So funny, I forgot to laugh."

"So why don't ya laugh now, mate?"

Everyone looked at her.

"I'll explain it to her in the morning. Come on you two." Blaze said. She headed for the door, Marine following, Cocoa resting on her head.

Knuckles, Tikal, and Shade headed for the room with the Master emerald and 6 of the Chaos emeralds. The other emerald was with Shadow, everyone agreeing it would be safer to not have all the emeralds in one room.

Cream, Cheese, Silver, Bokkun, and Amy left for their rooms, but Tails stayed behind.

"Hey Tails, ya comin?" Sonic asked.

"In a little bit. I'm gonna upgrade the security system a little. You two go on ahead. Good night."

"Night buddy."

"Good night, Tails." Cosmo said.

Sonic and Cosmo went to bed, while Tails stayed up, typing on his keyboard.

After about an hour and a half, he stretched and let out a yawn.

"Time to get some rest..." he sighed. "Now that the system is stronger, no one'll be able to get in here unknoticed."

He pushed the button that started the security system, and almost immidietely the alarms went off, and red lights flashed on and off.

Tails yelped in surprise, then hit the intercom button.

"Everyone, there's an intruder on the ship!"

xoxoxo

Silver snapped awake and sat up. "Whazzut?"

Sonic, whom he shared the room with, snorted awake, then jumped out of bed.

"Come on!" he ordered, heading for the door.

xoxoxo

Knuckles, Tikal, and Shade jerked awake, then they all jumped to their feet in shock.

"The Chaos emeralds!" Knuckles shouted.

"They're gone!" Tikal exclaimed in shock.

Indeed, the 6 emeralds were gone.

"Wait, Shadow still the one he found, right?" Shade asked.

"Right, which means..." Tikal trailed off.

"He could be in trouble." Knuckles finished. "Let's go!"

xoxoxo

Marine jumped.

"I didn't touch it, I swear!" she exclaimed. Cocoa chirped in agreement.

Blaze sat up, then got out of bed and headed for the door.

"Stay here," she ordered, "Cocoa, keep her safe, alright?"

Cocoa gave an annoyed chirp, as if to say, "Of coarse!"

Blaze left.

xoxoxo

Shadow woke with a start.

'What's going on?' he wondered as he propted himself up on his elbows. There was a knock on the door.

"Shadow, come on! There's somebody without an invitation on board!" Rouge called through the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." he replied as he got out of bed. Before he got very far, though, a cold, clawed hand covered his mouth, and another gripped his shoulder tightly from behind.

"Good evening, Shadow." a voice chuckled in his ear.

Shadow's eyes widened as Mephiles laughed.

"I hear you have a pretty little Chaos emerald for me. Where might it be, hm?"

"Shadow, come on!" Rouge snapped.

Shadow tried to respond, but Mephiles' hand kept him quiet. As he tried to pry the demon's hand off, Rouge pounded on the door.

"Don't make me come in there!" she growled.

Shadow struggled to break free.

Mephiles shifted and pinned Shadow to the wall with the hand still covering his mouth.

"So, where're you keeping that emerald?" Mephiles asked.

Shadow gave a muffled growl and tried to pry Mephiles' hand off again. Mephiles' muzzle curved, so if he had a mouth he'd be smirking, and lifted his free hand. Electricity sparked and danced across it.

Shadow's eyes widened, and his struggles to get free intensified. Mephiles chuckled, and ran a claw gently across Shadow cheek, Shadow's eyes following it, and it gave off a spark of electricity. A low, muffled whimper breifly filled the room.

"I'll make this simple, Shadow. Tell me where the emerald is, and you can get back to sleep."

Shadow wished desperately Rouge WOULD break the door down, so she could help him.

xoxoxo

"Shadow, I _CAN_ pick locks! Do _NOT_ make me come in there!" Rouge yelled.

_'What is taking him so long...?'_ she wondered.

Suddenly, the trio of echidnas rounded the corner.

"Rouge!" Tikal called.

"Hey, what's up?" the ivory bat asked.

"The Chaos emeralds are gone, Shadow might be in trouble!" Shade explained.

"That's it, I'm pickin' the lock!"

Rouge pulled out the bobby pin and screw driver and stuck them into the keyhole.

After 30 seconds, the lock clicked open.

Rouge pushed the door open.

"Shadow, I-" she was about to chew him out, but froze upon seeing him pinned against the wall by Mephiles.

"You always interupt at the most opportunistic times." Mephiles sighed.

"Let him go, demon!" Knuckles demanded, then charged at him with a spiky fist ready.

Mephiles chuckled. "As you wish." Then he vanished from sight.

Shadow barely ducked in time before Knuckles' fist hit the wall where his head had been, and it left a small crater in the wall.

Shadow glared at him.

"I, uh, meant to do that, heh heh..." the echidna laughed nervously, pulling his hand free.

"Of coarse you did." Shadow grumbled as he stood back up straight.

"Quick, let's get to the bridge!" Shade ordered.

Everyone nodded, and headed for the door.

"Hold on a sec." Shadow said, racing to the bed side drawer. He pulled out white emerald, then followed.

They'd barely taken two steps out of the room before Mephiles appeared, 3 shadows on either side of him.

"Hand over that emerald." he ordered.

"Shadow, Rouge, you two go on ahead, we'll handle these freaks." Knuckles said, raising his fists in preperation to fight.

Shade activated her Nocturnus tech, her headband transforming into a helmut. Tikal wasn't skilled with weapons, but she knew how to fight, and her and Shade made a good team.

"Right, be careful." Rouge warned, then her and Shadow took off down the hall as the trio of echidnas distracted the shadows. Mephiles turned to mist and shot after them. He reformed in front of them, and prepared to fire a dark orb at them. Shadow pushed Rouge behind him and handed her the emerald.

Before Mephiles fired the attack, a blue blur rammed into him, sending him crashing into the wall.

Sonic stood in front of them.

"What a night, eh?" he asked.

"Not funny." Shadow and Rouge grumbled in unison.

"You two run, I'll hold off our crystalline friend here."

"If you say so." Rouge said.

"I can fight too, ya know..." Shadow muttered.

"You still need rest after the last fight you had yesterday."

Shadow opened his mouth to argue, but changed his mind and sighed in frustration.

"Be careful." he said simply, then grabbed Rouge's arm and ran.

Mephiles stood, growling in anger, and summoned 5 shadows. They appeared behind Sonic, and tackled him to the floor. Mephiles turned and headed after Shadow and Rouge.

xoxoxo

Yeah, this is kinda based off the Cosmo Conspiracy episode. And I lost track of what color emeralds they had and the one they found, so Shadow has the white emerald, and the rest, well they're with Mephiles. R&R!


	26. Chapter 26

Shadow and Rouge paused to catch their breath.

"Ok, what's the plan?" Rouge asked.

"Get to the bridge, we have a wider area to fight then." Shadow replied.

"How do we do that and avoid Mephiles?"

Mephiles appeared out of thin air behind them.

"For starters, run!" Shadow grabbed her arm and ran, pulling her along behind him.

"Shadow!" Mephiles yelled angrily.

As they ran, Shadow glanced behind them and saw 5 shadows flying after them.

He couldn't help but think of the ARK incident 50 years ago. His closest friend panting behind him as she ran, enemies coming after them, and no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't escape...

Shadow shook his head to clear his mind, and focused on keeping Rouge and him ahead of the shadows.

He looked ahead, and 5 more shadows and Mephiles appeared in front of them. He skidded to a stop, and looked back as the other shadows caught up with them. The shadows closed in, and Shadow pushed Rouge behind him against the wall.

"You're making this much more difficult than it has to be." Mephiles stated.

"If life was easy, we wouldn't have to deal with freaks like you." Rouge retorted.

"Of course, there's still time for you two to change your minds. If you join me, you won't have to face the consequences of fighting Iblis."

Rouge and Shadow stared at him sceptically.

"Working for me isn't as bad as you think." Mephiles insisted.

"Will we be getting business cards?" Shadow asked dryly.

Mephiles glared at them. "Attack!" he ordered.

The shadows lunged at them. Shadow and Rouge ducked under them, and took off down the hall.

"Any ideas?" Shadow asked.

"One." Rouge replied.

"Ok, what is it?"

"This way."

Rouge pulled Shadow towards an opening in the wall and handed him the emerald.

"Alright, go." she said, pushing him through.

"What're you-" he was cut off when he fell down a shaft. "AAAAAAaaaa..." his scream faded as he disappeared. Mephiles appeared next to Rouge and both of them looked toward the bottem. There was a thud, and then, "Owww..."

"Shadow?" Rouge called down.

"WHAT was THAT?" he exclaimed, his voice echoing.

"Well, you weren't supposed to fall!"

"Well, you know, gravity. It's a funny thing."

"Well pardon me," Rouge retorted, spreading her wings and taking to the air, and flying downward, "I don't hear you coming up with ideas, and I don't think you're being very fair blaming me for your slow reflexes..."

Her voice faded as she disappeared from sight. Mephiles stared after for a second, then shook his head and melted into purple mist, and followed her.

Rouge reached the bottem, and found Shadow lying face down on the floor.

"You ok?" she asked, kneeling down next to him.

"Fine..." he muttered into the floor.

A screeching roar reached their ears, and they looked up to see purple mist coming down on them.

Rouge helped Shadow to his feet and they ran, barely moving in time before Mephiles hit the spot he'd been.

Mephiles raced after them, and cut Shadow off.

"Rouge!" he called, tossing her the emerald. She caught it, and the mist wrapped around Shadow.

"Shadow, hang on!" she called.

Shadow writhed in Mephiles grasp, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Insolent hedgehog." Mephiles' voice hissed.

"Chaos..." Shadow growled, "Blast!"

A red aura surrounded him, then exploded outward. He dropped to the floor, landing on his feet, while the mist screeched angrily.

Shadow took off, grabbing Rouge's arm, and pulling her along.

They raced toward another doorway, and Shadow pushed Rouge through it, then sent a Chaos Spear at the mist, hitting it head on, then followed her.

Mephiles reformed from the mist, growling as he followed them. The door led to another shaft, and Shadow and Rouge were already halfway up, Rouge flying and Shadow jumping from wall to the other.

"See, this was my original idea." Rouge said with an annoyed expression.

"Just focus on getting to the top." Shadow grumbled.

Mephiles flew after them, and launched an orb at Shadow. He jumped out of the way in time, but lost his foot, and started falling back down. Rouge turned back around and flew at him. She grabbed his arm, and pulled him with her.

"Geez you're heavy!" she panted.

"Just get me on the floor, or the wall, or whatever!"

Mephiles threw another orb at them, and Rouge swerved to avoid it.

"Nevermind, keep going!"

"Don't rush me, pal!"

They finally reached the top, and Rouge let Shadow go, and he landed on his feet, and hit a red button. The hole they'd come through started closing, and before Mephiles could fly through it, it closed. He glared up at the door.

"Good going Shad, now hurry, that's not gonna hold him!" Rouge said, pulling his arm and pulling him to his feet.

"I know. Let's go!" Shadow ran ahead of her, pulling her along.

There was a loud explosion, and the doors over the hole were blown off, and mist shot out of the tunnel and flew at them.

Shadow pushed Rouge behind him protectively.

Suddenly a blast of fire hit the mist head on, keeping Mephiles at bay.

"Need a hand?" a voice asked. Blaze landed in front of Shadow and Rouge, and continued shooting fire at Mephiles.

"Get outta here you two, I'll hold mist boy off." she ordered.

"Alright, be careful girl." Rouge warned.

"Got it, get going."

Shadow and Rouge continued down the hall towards the door.

Blaze threw fireballs continuously at Mephiles.

"You're not getting past me, Mephiles!" she growled.

Mephiles zipped out of the way of the fireballs, and flew at Blaze at blinding speed. Blaze's eyes widened, but she had no time to get out of the way, and she braced herself. The mist rammed into her, and slammed her into the wall.

Mephiles reformed from the mist, and sneered down at her, then headed after Shadow and Rouge.

xoxoxo

Said animals were running down another hallway. Shadow was wearing down though, the Chaos Blast had taken most of the energy he'd regained.

"Just a little longer Shadow, hang on." Rouge urged.

There was an explosion, and smoke came from the hallway they'd just left.

"Mephiles is catching up..." Shadow muttered.

"I noticed, come on." Rouge pulled Shadow down yet another hallway (really that ship has too many hallways!), but they came to a stop.

"Great it's a dead end."

"Nice choice of direction." Shadow grumbled.

"Let's turn around and find another way before Mephiles catches up."

"Too late for that, bat." Mephiles growled. They whipped around, and Mephiles was standing at the end of the hall, arms crossed and an impatient expression on his face.

"Get behind me, Rouge." Shadow ordered, pushing the ivory bat behind him.

"My patience is wearing thin, give me the Chaos emerald." Mephiles ordered calmly, yet anger was laced within it.

"Over my dead body." Shadow retorted.

"That can be easily arranged."

Shadow and Rouge backed into the wall, while Mephiles made his way toward them.

"Any ideas?" Rouge asked.

Shadow looked at her, then looked at something behind her, then back at Mephiles.

Rouge followed his gaze, and saw a lever.

_'The Sonic Power Cannon? What's that gonna...Oh!' _ Rouge realized Shadow's plan.

She slowly put her hand on the lever, and waited for the signal.

_'Wait, what's the signal?'_ she wondered. _'Guess I'll know it when I see it._'

"I'll give you three seconds to back off, demon." Shadow growled.

"I'll give you three seconds to hand over that emerald, hedgehog." Mephiles growled back in a mocking tone.

Shadow growled lowly, and Mephiles took one more step toward them.

"Now." Shadow murmered.

Rouge nodded, and pulled the lever down.

Two walls slid down from the ceiling, cutting Mephiles off in front and back.

"Do you seriously beleive a door can stop me?" he asked as it slid down.

"Prove me wrong then." Shadow replied, smirking.

The walls locked into place.

"This is too easy." Mephiles sighed, and sent a blast of Chaos energy at the wall. It bounced back however, and hit him, and he was frozen in place.

"For the brains of Solaris, he's not very bright." Rouge smirked.

"Shall we fire him into space?" Shadow asked.

"Can he even do a Spindash?"

"Guess we'll find out."

Shadow pushed a few buttons on the keypad, then hit the go button.

A platform lifted Mephiles into the cannon.

"What the-" he started, but was cut off when he was forced into a Spindash.

How Sonic and Shadow could stand this was beyond him. It made him dizzy seeing everything going by in a blur.

"Firing now." Rouge announced.

The cannon shot Mephiles into space, and he vanished, a star twinkling where he'd disappeared.

"I guess he can spin lke you and Sonic, huh?" Rouge asked with a chuckle.

"Let's get to the bridge, and then head for the medic bay to make sure everyone's ok." Shadow said, taking the emerald from Rouge.

"Chaos control!"

They vanished in a flash of light.

xoxoxo

They reappeared in the bridge, and looked out the window.

"Guess we're safe for now. Sorry for all of this..." Shadow murmered.

"Hey, don't sweat it. All I care about is helping you out and making sure you're safe." Rouge said with a smile, and held her hand out to him, "Now, let's get to the medic bay and check on everyone, kay?"

Shadow stared at her hand, then at her and smiled, and reached to take it. Suddenly, Mephiles appeared between them.

"I'm through playing games." he growled, and threw a kick at Rouge. The bat yelped as she flew back and hit the wall.

Shadow let out a furious growl and threw a punch at Mephiles. Mephiles turned around and caught his wrist.

A powerful electric current ran through Shadow, continously.

Shadow tried to swallow his scream, but it came anyway.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled.

She stood to help, but shadows surrounded her and prevented her from assisting him.

Shadow tried to pull free, but Mephiles grabbed his other wrist and held him still while the electricity continued to course through him. A few seconds later, he felt white hot pain in his head and heart, and Mephiles let go. Shadow fell to the floor on his side, clutching his chest in pain.

Mephiles held a hand over him, a purple glow coming from it, and a golden aura appeared around Shadow. It faded away into a red aura, which sank into Shadow's skin. He twitched slightly, then fell unconcious.

Mephiles chuckled, and his eyes slid to the emerald, which had fallen to the floor. He picked it up.

"I'll hold onto this for you." he said with a laugh.

"Shadow! Rouge!" Silver and Tails ran into the room.

Mephiles vanished, his shadows soon after. Rouge, Silver, and Tails ran over to Shadow.

"Shadow?" Rouge called worriedly, shaking his shoulder gently.

Shadow didn't wake up, but gave a soft moan.

"What happened?" Tails asked.

"I don't know. Mephiles electrocuted him, then some aura thing appeared around him, then it vanished. I don't know what he did." Rouge replied.

"Let's get him to the medic bay, Cosmo already took care of Knuckles, Tikal, Shade, Sonic, and Blaze."

"What happened to Blaze?" Silver asked in surprise.

"She fought Mephiles."

"Is she alright?"

"Ask her when you get there, she's awake, let's get Shadow there right now."

Silver and Rouge picked Shadow up and put his arms over there shoulders, and headed for the medic bay as fast as they could.

xoxoxo

Mephiles has the Chaos emeralds! OMG We're doomed! Heh heh, not yet.

What did Mephiles do to Shadow? Will Iblis be released? Can Sonic and co. stop him? All will be answered in the final chapters of the Iblis Saga!

R&R!


	27. Chapter 27

Rouge and Tails were looking at a screen. Shadow was lying on a bed with a scanner running over him, bathing him in a green light.

"I can't find anything wrong with him, Rouge." Tails said finally.

"I saw something happen. Some red aura thing went into him and then he passed out. Something had to happen." Rouge sighed.

"I beleive you, I just can't find anything at the moment."

"How're the others?"

"Sonic's resting, Knuckles and the girls are ok, just a little tired."

At that moment, Amy came running in.

"Sonic!" she cried. She ran over to the cobalt hedgehog who was laying on a bed.

"Amy, it's ok-" he started, but Amy cut him off by hugging him tightly.

"Oh Sonic! I was so worried! I thought Mephiles might have killed you again or something! Please tell me you're ok!"

"I'm fine...you don't need to choke me to prove it." Sonic choked out.

Amy let him go, and he gulped down air as she clasped her hands together.

"Thank goodness! I was so worried." she sighed.

"Couldn't tell..." a voice muttered.

Everyone looked at Shadow. He was looking at them with half opened eyes.

"Shadow, are you alright?" Rouge asked, walking over to him.

"Yeah, just a little sore." he replied, propping himself up on his elbows, but flinched and fell back on the bed.

"Take it easy, we don't know what Mephiles did just yet," Tails warned, "We're still trying to figure that out."

"I'm guessing he got the Chaos emerald."

"Yeah." Rouge replied with a sad smile.

Shadow grumbled under his breath, looking down.

"Hey, don't worry. We'll stop him." Sonic assured him.

"We don't even know where he went, Sonic." Knuckles pointed out, walking into the room.

"How ya feeling, buddy?"

"Fine. It'll take more than those freaks to take me down."

"What about Tikal and Shade?"

"They're fine." Cosmo replied, entering the room, followed by said echidnas.

"Wha' 'bout Blaze, mate?" Marine asked.

"She's fine too, just a little winded is all."

"That's a releif." Silver sighed.

"Worried about her, eh?" Sonic asked with a sly smile.

"Well, she's my-our, friend, so of course I am."

"Yeah, our _friend_, that's it. Nothing to do with the fact you like her."

"Anyway, whatta we do now?"

"Well, for starters, we figure out where Mephiles went."

"Brilliant Sonic. Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Shadow asked sarcastically.

"Where would he go to release Iblis?" Tails asked.

"Maybe he went back to Mobius to Solleanna, that would make sense-"

"Guys!" Bokkun ran into the room, and sat on the floor panting.

"What's up, little buddy?" Sonic asked.

"I...got a...message for ya..."

He pulled out his little TV.

Everybody ran to the other side of the room, hiding behind to beds turned onto the sides.

"Does this one explode?" Amy asked nervously.

"I don't know...I just found it...I think it's from Eggman." Bokkun replied.

"Found it?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, there was a message thingie on the computer thing, so I clicked on it, and it got sent to my TV. Let's see what it says..."

The TV came on, and indeed the robot loving docter appeared on screen.

"Bokkun, if you're watching this, make sure Sonic's little gang sees it too." he ordered.

"Docter, I think Mephiles is on his way down here." Bocoe called nervously from offscreen.

"Mephiles is planning to release Iblis at the coordinates, 0,0. Stopping him's impossible. Since I know you're dumb enough to try anyway, I'm giving you directions." Eggman continued.

"Dr. Eggman, Mephiles is approaching!" Decoe and Bocoe appeared on screen.

"We should get out of here soon!" Bocoe said.

"Shut up, I'm trying to taunt my enemies here, besides there's no time to evacuate! Anyway, well Sonic, I'm sure your gang is scheming right now, so I'll go."

Decoe and Bocoe looked at him increduously, then at eachother, then started running around the room in a panic when a siren went off.

"Well, good luck. Hahaha!" Eggman laughed, then there was an explosion and the screen went fuzzy.

"Did Eggman just help us?" Amy asked after a minute of silence.

"I think he did." Tails replied.

"Why would the old drongo do that?" Marine asked.

"Who knows, but let's go. Those coordinates are already in the computer from when the Metarex used that spot." Tails said.

"We should probablly help Eggman out since he helped us." Sonic added.

"Do we have ta?" Marine moaned.

"Yes, we have ta." Blaze replied, coming into the room.

"Ahoy Blaze, how ya feelin' mate?"

"Fine. I heard everything. I don't like Eggman much, but we do owe him for the info."

"Blaze's right. I say we go." Shadow put in.

"Shocking." Amy muttered.

"Besides, I owe for helping me when I was on Mephiles' ship."

"So, it's decided." Sonic announced.

"Um, Bokkun? Please tell me those numbers on the screen counting backwards from 10 don't mean what I think they mean..." Cosmo asked worriedly.

Bokkun looked at the screen, and chuckled nervously.

"Guess this one does go boom. Duck and cover!" he flew behind the bed shields.

The numbers hit zero, and there was a small explosion, filling the small room with smoke.

Coughing, Tails opened the door, and everyone filed out of the room coughing and gagging.

"*cough*, sorry everyone..." Bokkun choked out.

"No worries. Anyway, let's get some fans and head for Mephiles' ship." Sonic said.

Everyone nodded, and they headed for the bridge.

xoxoxo

The BT reached the coordinates they'd been given.

"We're here everyone." Tails announced.

They looked around, but didn't see Mephiles' ship anywhere.

"So, where's Mephiles?" Amy asked.

"It's too quiet." Cream murmered timidly.

Everyone looked around again, still seeing nothing.

"Maybe Eggman gave us the wrong coordinates-"

There was a loud bang, and the ship lurched. Everyone not sitting down slipped and fell to the floor, and Mephiles' ship appeared.

"I found him mates!" Marine cheered, pointing out the window.

"Well done, genious." Shadow muttered, gettiing up.

"Hello, brats." a voice chuckled.

Mephiles appeared on the screen.

"Mephiles." Shadow growled.

"I see you're feeling better," Mephiles chuckled, "I assume you're here to stop me and rescue the Docter?"

"Yep, that's the plan." Sonic replied with a cocky grin.

"I see, well, best of luck." Mephiles vanished.

"Ok, we'll need to split into teams. One to keep an eye Mephiles, and one to get Eggman out." Tails announced.

"Alright, me, Shadow, and Rouge can go bust Eggie out." Sonic said.

"Goodluck guys, we'll let you know if Mephiles tries anything outside."

"Alright, let's go for it." Sonic and his team headed for the hangar.

xoxoxo

Rouge was flying towards Mephiles' ship, pulling Sonic and Shadow with her.

"We'll have to be quick, boys." she stated.

"Quick is our middle name Rouge." Sonic chuckled.

They landed on the roof of the ship.

"Alright you two, do your stuff."

Sonic and Shadow rolled into spiky balls and Spindashed through the wall.

An alarm went off, red lights flashing.

"Ok, let's go this way." Shadow ordered, heading left. Rouge and Sonic followed.

"Do you know where they are?" Sonic asked.

"I've got an idea..."

They desended into the lower deck of the ship, Shadow seeming to know the way by heart.

"I remember this hallway..." Rouge murmered to herself.

Several shadows stood in front of a door. Sonic and Shadow Spindashed while Rouge skrew kicked them, and they destroyed them, and blasted a hole in the wall in the process.

"I see you decided to rescue us. Very nice, but unnessecary." a voice chuckled.

Eggman and his two robots stepped out of the room through the hole.

"We appreciate you're rescuing us." Bocoe said gratefully.

"Let's get out of here before our demon friend shows up." Rouge smirked.

"I think that's gonna be a problem, Rouge." Sonic muttered, looking behind her.

She turned and saw Mephiles, watching them with amuzement.

Sonic, Shadow, and Rouge got into fighting stances, while Eggman and his two lackies cowered behind a corner.

Mephiles snapped his fingers, and several shadows appeared around them.

"Alright, I'll handle these guys." Sonic said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the shadows on the left.

"I'll handle them." Rouge nodded in the other direction.

"That leaves the demon to me." Shadow growled, glaring at Mephiles.

"We'll cheer you on from here." Bocoe called from behind the corner.

"Go Sonic!" Decoe cheered, waving a flag with a picture of Sonic on it.

"Let's go." Shadow ordered.

They split up.

Shadow ran at Mephiles, throwing a punch. Mephiles easily caught it with one hand inches from his face. His eyes stared at Shadow with amuzement.

"I see you haven't figured out what that little jolt did to you." he chuckled.

Shadow's glare softened in confusion for a second before returning, and he yanked his hand free and jumped back a little to get some distance between them.

He put his hands together to form a Chaos Spear, but something strange happened. The energy appeared, then sparked and vanished. Shadow's eyes windened in shock.

Mephiles laughed at his confusion.

"You're a little slow hedgehog," he chuckled, "I thought you would've figured it out."

"Figured out what?" Shadow asked, a little fear in his voice.

"See, that little shock blocked your Chaos powers. My Chaos energy was in that electricity, and trapped them where they form. I'm sure you felt a little pain in your heart and mind, that's where **your** Chaos energy comes from. My energy formed a barrier around them, locking them away. Think about it this way," Mephiles chuckled, "Your powers won't work unless I allow it."

Shadow's eyes widened. Mephiles chuckled again, and slowly started towards him.

"Now, let's see how well you fight without them."

Shadow jumped out of the way of an orb, and landed a few feet away. Mephiles turned into mist and flew behind him, then reformed and twisted his arm behind his back. Shadow bit back a cry as Mephiles twisted almost to the point of breaking it.

"You're not very good at fighting without your precios powers." Mephiles snickered.

Shadow growled as he tried to pull free, but stopped when Mephiles twisted his arm more.

"I can give them back you know, all you have to do is side with me." the demon murmered in his ear.

"I've said it numerous times before, never." Shadow growled through gritted teeth.

"So be it."

Mephiles twisted his arm further, and Shadow felt something pull. He let out a pained cry, and Rouge turned toward him. She and Sonic had taken care of most of the shadows.

She flew at them, and aimed a kick at Mephiles. Mephiles let Shadow go and vanished.

"You ok?" Rouge asked as Shadow massaged his sore arm.

"I'm fine, let's get out of here." he replied.

The animals and Eggman headed for the hole they'd made when they broke in.

"Hope you got something to breath in space with." Rouge said.

"I always come prepared." Eggman chuckled. He pulled out a small remote, and push the button on it.

The Eggmobile flew up to them, and Eggman and his two robots hopped into it, a glass dome closing over them.

"Alright, let's go everyone."

Rouge took Sonic and Shadow's hand, and pulled them with her, while Eggman followed them.

They'd almost reached the BT, when Mephiles appeared, the seven emeralds surrounding him.

"I think it's time Iblis returned home." he chuckled. The emeralds glew, but not their normal warm glow; it was more cold and malevolent.

A large, glowing portal erupted into being.

"We gotta do something. Iblis can't come back or we're all finished." Sonic said.

"Gee, ya think?" Rouge asked.

They landed on the BT, and headed for the door leading inside.

xoxoxo

"Alright, so, Mephiles blocked Shadow's Chaos powers?" Shade asked.

Shadow quietly nodded.

"...Don't worry, we'll figure out a way to get them working." Cosmo assured him.

"I don't need your pity!" Shadow suddenly snapped. Cosmo jumped slightly and looked away.

"Hey, she was just being nice." Knuckles retorted.

"Well I don't want her to be! I don't need anyone's pity!"

"She wasn't pitying you, she was just trying to cheer you up!" Tails piped in.

Shadow turned away and headed for the door.

"What's with you anyway?"

Shadow whipped around, glaring at the fox. Tails gulped.

"What's with me? What do you think! Mephiles is about to release Iblis and detroy time and space, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it! Once that's done, Mephiles'll probablly kill every one of us, and I still can't do anything to stop him! Face it, I'm useless! He should've killed me when he had the chance!"

As he was shouting, tears of frustration formed in the corner of his eyes.

Rouge tentavely walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He calmed down, panting as Rouge sat him in a chair.

The others watched him sadly.

It was obvious that, along with his Chaos powers, Mephiles had stolen Shadow's confidence.

xoxoxo

Ok, I'll end this chapter here. Hope you liked. R&R!


	28. Chapter 28

"So, whatta we do now?" Marine asked.

"We still have the Sol emeralds, but how do we get the Chaos emeralds from Mephiles?" Blaze asked.

"By force, that's how." Knuckles replied determinedly.

"Yeah, we'll just waltz in and take em from him," Rouge smirked, "How are we gonna do that?"

"Fighting, just like we always do." Shadow growled.

"Are you sure you're up for that? I mean, with your powers gone and all..." Sonic trailed off when Shadow glared at him.

"I can still Spindash, and I can still fight. I'm not powerless."

"Ok then. Who else is comin?"

"I will." Blaze replied.

"So will I." Silver stepped forward.

"Alright, Tails, you get the Sonic Power Cannon ready in case we need it, Knuckles, you and Tikal do your thing with the Master Emerald, and everyone else, cheer us on. We'll need all the support we can get." Sonic ordered.

"Roight, let's beat this drongo, mates!" Marine exclaimed, throwing her fist in the air. Cocoa did similarly and chirped happily.

"YEAH!" everyone, minus Shadow and Eggman, cheered.

xoxoxo

"Fools..." Mephiles said with a chuckle as he watched Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Blaze come out of the BT in preperation to fight.

"I don't know why you brats bother, it's impossible to defeat me. Iblis will return, and once we combine into Solaris, you'll all perish."

"Cuz we never give up, that's why!" Silver yelled.

"No matter, Iblis will soon be released." Mephiles looked back at the giant portal that was giving off an orangey red glow. A faint roar came from it.

"Not on our watch." Sonic retorted.

The trio of hedgehogs Spindashed at Mephiles, who flew out of the way, and they collided.

"Geez, watch where you're going." Silver grumbled as he held his head.

"I should say the same to you..." Shadow muttered, his index finger and thumb massaging his forehead.

"We really shoulda seen that comin'..." Sonic moaned.

"Boys..." Blaze sighed. Then she jumped into the air and started her Axle Tornado, aiming at Mephiles.

Mephiles merely moved out of the way, and she flew into a meteor. She quickly recovered, and lobbed a fireball at him. He caught it, to her shock, and tossed it from one hand to the other.

"Please, you call that a fireball?" he chuckled.

He put the fireball in both hands, and it expanded to the size of a beachball. Blaze was shocked, and a tiny bit impressed, by this. Mephiles hurled it at her, and it hit hard, sending her into another meteor.

"Do you think you can take me on alone?" Mephiles snickered, closing in on her.

"Who says I'm fighting you? Maybe I'm just distracting you." Blaze smirked.

Mephiles glanced back at the portal, and Sonic, Silver, and Shadow each had at least one Chaos emerald, and were smirking at him. Mephiles growled, then chuckled.

"It doesn't matter, you're already too late."

A tremendous roar came from the portal, and two glowing eyes flashed breifly.

"Uh oh..." Sonic muttered.

"We have to seal that portal." Silver said.

"Gee, ya think?" Shadow asked.

"We have the Chaos emeralds, so let's use em."

"Go ahead, I'll wait back here..."

"Why's that?"

"If I can't use my regular Chaos abilities, what makes you think I'll be able to use my enhanced ones? The emeralds require Chaos energy, which I have none of."

Shadow tossed the red emerald he'd been holding to Sonic, and glared at Mephiles.

"Besides, someone has to keep the demon busy."

"Are you su-"

"Ask me if I'm sure one more time and see what happens."

Silver shut up and nodded.

"Alright, then let's get this show on the road." Sonic said with a smirk.

The Chaos emeralds glew, and spun around Sonic and Silver, a golden light flooding the area. When it dimmed, Silver and Sonic were a similar color, with a golden aura coming from them.

"Wait for me." Blaze called.

The Sol emeralds, which were similar to the Chaos emeralds, appeared around her, and spun around her in a similar fashion, but gave off a white light. When it dimmed, she was a light pink, her ponytail was noticable longer, and her outfit turned red with gold trim.

She and the two hedgehogs flew off to the portal, while Shadow faced Mephiles.

Mephiles laughed. "They left _YOU_ to fight me? That's pretty pathetic. You can't even use Chaos Control, how do you expect to fight me?"

Shadow growled, and Spindash at him.

Sonic, Silver, and Blaze each took a side of the portal, and held up their hands, directing their energy at it, and forming a large barrier around it. The portal's glow dimmed somewhat, but a loud growl came from it, announcing Iblis' presence just beyond it.

"Keep the barrier up, maybe we can close it!" Sonic called.

"Right, let's use Chaos Control, and maybe we can seal him in another dimension!" Silver replied.

"I'm for it!" Blaze agreed.

_'Shadow, just keep Mephiles busy! I know you can do it!' _Sonic thought as he gritted his teeth in concentration.

xoxoxo

Mephiles caught Shadow while he was Spindashing, and threw him at the side of BT. Shadow unrolled and slowed to a stop before he could hit.

Mephiles melted into mist and flew at him. Shadow had no time to dodge, and Mephiles slammed into him and rammed him into the side of the ship, pinning him there.

_"You should've joined me when you had the chance. Unfortunantly the time to choose has long passed. I will not extend my offer to you this time..."_ Mephiles growled, a slight hiss in his voice.

Shadow writhed in the mist's grip, but Mephiles had a tight hold on him. The mist slowly crawled up, covering his chest, and pressing down hard, forcing the air from his lungs.

_"You can't hope to defeat me or Iblis. Not even your little friends with their enhanced powers can stop up now, and I'll kill you quickly."_

"N-ne...ver..." Shadow choked out.

"Hey buddy!" a voice shouted.

Bullets pelted the mist, and with a furious screech he let go. Shadow gasped and gulped down air as a pink ship flew past.

"Keep your mist to yourself." Rouge snapped.

_"Insolent bat." _Mephiles growled, and wrapped around the small craft, and started crushing it.

"Hey pal! You're scratching the paint!" Rouge grumbled.

She unbuckled her seat belt, and kicked a hole in the window. She flew out mere seconds before the ship was crushed, and a small explosion threw her forward.

"Darn, I was starting to like that ship..." she sighed as she turned back toward Shadow, who was resting on the roof of the ship.

There was a woosh behind her, and she looked back to see the purple mist flying upward, then it turned and flew at her at deadly speed.

What happened next happened too fast for her to keep up. One second the mist was flying at her, the next she was in Shadow's arms.

Shadow let out a cry as the mist hit his back.

"Shadow!" Rouge cried.

Shadow was thrown forward, and he landed on the roof of Mephiles' ship. He let Rouge down, and fell to his hands and knees.

"Shadow, are you alright?" Rouge asked as she knelt down beside him.

"Fine...I'm fine..." he replied between pants.

"Maybe you should rest..."

"I'm fine. You get back to the ship and stay there." Shadow stood, still a little winded, but relatively fine.

"Not gonna happen. I'm with you all the way."

"No Rouge, I'm not asking you to go back, I'm telling you to."

"I don't follow orders well, ya know."

"Rouge! You can't fight! I don't want you to! You might get hurt or worse! I won't allow it!"

"Shadow, I-"

"I can't nearly lose you again! And I refuse to lose you too!"

"Too?"

"I've already lost someone once, I can't lose you too...I can't..."

Shadow went silent, as did Rouge.

"Shadow," she started, "I promise you, you'll never lose me. No matter what, you hear me?"

Shadow looked at her.

"We're Team Dark, granted we're short one member, but still. Now let's win this fight together, as a team."

Rouge held her hand out to Shadow, who looked at it for a few seconds, then at her face. She smiled reassuringly. Shadow smiled too, and nodded, reaching out to take her hand.

Before he could however, Mephiles, still in his mist form, rammed into him, and flew off with him, until the ships and portal were mere specks.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled, about to fly after them, but 4 shadows appeared around her. She jumped out of their way, and Screw kicked 2 of them, destroying them instantly. The other two, and several more, floated in front of the direction Mephiles and Shadow went.

"They're not attacking me...just blocking me...Mephiles doesn't want any interuptions." Rouge murmered.

At least 25 shadows blocked her path. Not even she could defeat them all by herself.

_'Shadow, please be careful...goodluck...'_ she thought regretfully as she slowly turned and flew back to the ship.

xoxoxo

Mephiles returned to his crystalline form, holding Shadow tightly by his neck, not strangling him, but enough to hold him still.

"Before I destroy your little friends and time itself, I think I'll have some fun with you. Let's see how long you last without help." Mephiles chuckled, releasing a burst of energy from his hands and throwing Shadow backward.

Shadow opened his eyes and glared at Mephiles angrily.

"You won't be destroying anything, demon!" he growled, and Spindashed at Mephiles.

Mephiles flew out of the way, and threw an orb at him. Shadow moved out of the way, and it hit a near by astroid.

More orbs flew at him, and he barely dodged them.

This was gonna be a long fight...

xoxoxo

These chapters are getting more suspenseful. Shadow and Mephiles' final showdown will be EPIC!


	29. Chapter 29

Shadow barely avoided an orb as it blew by him. Mephiles vanished from sight, then reappeared behind him. Shadow learned this when he was hit from behind by an orb, and he was thrown forward. Mephiles appeared in front of him, and grabbed him by the neck.

"This is just sad." Mephiles sighed as Shadow kicked at him.

"Well it's not exactly like I have a variety of attacks at the moment!" Shadow snarled angrily.

Mephiles chuckled, and sent him flying backward into an asteroid with enough force to smash it to bits.

Shadow gritted his teeth against the pain in his back, and glared at Mephiles.

The crystalline shade regarded him with a scornful expression, and flew at him at blinding speed. He socked him in the gut, then jabbed his elbow into his back. Shadow felt every ounce of breath leave him, and his stomach and back were screaming in pain.

Mephiles laughed as he watched him.

"This is pathetic, without your powers you're about as powerful as that plant girl."

Shadow couldn't respond.

Mephiles chuckled, and held his hand up. Electricity sparked, and Shadow's eyes widened further.

Mephiles jabbed him in the stomach, and electric pain coursed throughout the hedgehog's body.

Since he still couldn't do it out loud, Shadow's body shook with silent screams, involuntary tears forming under his tightly shut eye lids.

Mephiles laughed as he pulled his hand back.

Electricity sparked every few seconds in Shadow's quills. His body shook with weakness. The only positive thing was his breathing was slowly returning. He was panting heavily.

Mephiles threw another orb at him. Shadow Spin dashed right into it, causing an explosion. There was smoke everywhere. Under the cover of the smoke, Shadow hastily hid behind an asteroid.

Once it cleared, Mephiles looked around.

"So, you have to resort to hiding, eh? Pathetic." he mocked as he slowly moved toward a large group of asteroids.

"You've grown weak while I was away, Shadow. You could've been stronger..."

Mephiles' voice was slowly getting closer, and Shadow was trying to think of a plan.

An orb hit an asteroid a little ways away from him.

"You could've had power..."

Another asteroid was hit, breaking into fine dust, and Mephiles sounded a lot closer.

"You could've had everything you ever wanted..."

Shadow's ears folded back at the sound of a grating noise that sounded like nails on a chalk board. It was close too. Extremely close. Like right behind him.

"You could've had it all..."

Shadow's eyes widened as the sentence was murmured in his ear. Mephiles' hand grabbed his throat and pinned him to the rock.

"But no, you had to keep that wretched promise. It's pathetic to see such powers as yours go to waste like this, Shadow." Mephiles stated as Shadow struggled to pull free.

"But, it can't be helped."

Mephiles whipped around and threw him into another asteroid, shattering it.

Shadow couldn't do much except float there motionless. He was drained.

Mephiles laughed mockingly.

"So, _THIS_ this is the Ultimate Life form? Can't say I'm impressed."

Shadow flinched, and tried to move.

Mephiles slammed into him and rammed him into another asteroid.

The space rock shattered upon impact, and Shadow felt searing pain in his back. Mephiles kept hold of his upper arms.

"I expected a little more from you, Shadow. It seems you rely on your Chaos abilities far too much. Without them, you're nothing."

Shadow was too exhausted to even open his eyes.

"You're friendship with those idiots and that Robotnik brat has made you weak."

Shadow visibly flinched.

"You should have given up when you had the chance, but no, you live for destruction and fighting, don't you Shadow?"

Destruction.

That was all he was good for, all that he caused.

Shadow was slowly losing whatever confidence he'd regained.

_'Shadow!'_

_'Sonic?'_ Shadow thought.

_'Don't give up, no matter what!' _

That was Silver's voice. Blaze's voice came next.

_'You can do it!'_

_'I believe in you, Shadow!'_ Rouge's voice yelled.

_'Just keep fighting!'_ Knuckles yelled.

_'Believe in yourself!'_ Cosmo cried.

The next voice he heard shocked him.

_'You can do it Shadow, never give up, no matter what. I'll always believe in you!'_

_'Maria...'_ he thought.

_'They're right. I can't give up now. If Mephiles wants a fight, I'm gonna give him a war!'_

He felt a familiar surge of power, and his eyes snapped open. There was a reddish glow coming from them.

"What the-!" Mephiles didn't have time to finish.

Shadow lifted his leg and kicked Mephiles in the chest. With a grunt, Mephiles released him.

A blinding golden glow surrounded him, and when it dimmed, Shadow was in his super form.

"What the- That's impossible!" Mephiles shouted angrily.

Shadow grinned his trademark grin. "Trust me, I've learned nothing's impossible."

Mephiles' eyes narrowed and glowed a furious red, before he flung an orb at Shadow. Shadow flung a Chaos Spear at it, and they both exploded. Mephiles and Shadow flew at each other, and they collided, creating a bright explosion of energy that could be seen from the Blue Typhoon.

"What's that?" Cream asked.

"Let me see…" Tails murmured, hitting a few keys on the keyboard. An image appeared on screen, and he zoomed in on the explosion. Super Shadow and Mephiles appeared, colliding with each other.

"Shadow got his Chaos powers back!" Tails exclaimed happily.

"Alright, go Shadow!" Marine yelled.

"Kick his butt Shadow!" Bokkun cheered.

"Go Shadow, go!" Decoe and Bocoe exclaimed.

"Go for it, Shad." Rouge murmured.

Shadow sent a barrage of Chaos Spears at Mephiles, who countered with orbs. Smoke was thrown in the air, and Mephiles was stunned when Shadow flew at him from the smoke in a Spin dash. They collided, and flew into a large asteroid. Shadow flew back as Mephiles rubbed his head with a growl. Taking his chance, Shadow created a large ball of golden energy, and flung it at Mephiles.

Mephiles quickly threw an orb of his own, and the two energies exploded. Shadow quickly sent a blast of Chaos energy at Mephiles, who countered with his own, and they kept their blasts going. They could both feel the raw power from the colliding energy even from a few feet away. Shadow narrowed his eyes, and his energy moved forward a little. It was quickly pushed back by Mephiles. Shadow gritted his teeth, and his rings suddenly popped off. His power increased dramatically, and the energy blast shot forward, cutting through Mephiles', and hitting him dead center.

There was a bright flash, followed by an explosion of golden light, which could be seen for miles. Everyone back at the Blue Typhoon stared in awe. Sonic, Silver, and Blaze could see it as well.

"Think that was Shadow?" Silver asked.

"Oh yeah." Blaze replied with a laugh.

"That was him alright." Sonic added with a smirk.

'_Ya did it, Shadow.' _He thought.

When the smoke cleared, Mephiles was back in his Shadow form, unconscious. Shadow smirked.

"And that's why you shouldn't mess with me." He said.

He looked back in the direction of the portal and the ship.

Xoxoxo

"We can't keep this up much longer…" Silver said through gritted teeth.

"Hang in there, Silver." Sonic said, though he sounded exhausted as well.

"We have to find a way to close this portal fast before Iblis is released." Blaze muttered.

Suddenly, Shadow appeared between Sonic and Silver.

"Nice to see ya, champ." Sonic chuckled. Shadow rolled his eyes and added his own power to the barrier. The barrier grew noticeably stronger, but the portal still stayed open.

"There's gotta be something else we can do." Silver growled.

"…I think I have an idea." Blaze murmured.

"We're all ears here." Sonic said.

"We…we have to seal him away, but not in another dimension."

"Then, where else is there?" Silver asked.

"…We have to seal him away in someone," she replied, and seeing the trio of hedgehog's stunned faces, continued, "In me."

"What! No way Blaze!" Silver exclaimed.

"Blaze, you don't have to do this. We'll find another way, we just need time." Sonic added.

"We don't _have_ time, Sonic. Iblis could break free any second, and even though it's unlikely, there's still Mephiles. I doubt he'll recover in time, but still. I know it sounds crazy, but just trust me." Blaze urged.

Everyone stared at her, before Sonic nodded. "Right, okay Blaze, do what ya gotta do."

"What? Are you people insane? She can't do that! The last time she did she vanished into another dimension and it took me months to find her!" Silver exclaimed.

"Silver, you have to trust me! I promise I won't leave this time. The choice is mine to make."

Silver paused as the fortune teller's words came back to him.

Xoxoxo

"_A difficult choice lies ahead for you and someone close to you."_

"_A difficult choice?"_

"_Yes, and you must trust in your friends to make the right one."_

Xoxoxo

Silver and Blaze locked gazes for a moment, before he nodded.

"Right, go for it, Blaze."

Blaze smiled and nodded. She raised her arms in the air, and the Sol emeralds appeared around her. They started spinning and glowing, and Blaze stared glowing as well.

The portal suddenly flashed, and a figure emerged from it. Its glowing green eyes glared at the group surrounding it.

"Iblis…" Silver murmured.

Iblis roared and prepared to attack, but suddenly, a reddish aura appeared around him. He let out another roar, before suddenly exploding into light, and then shrinking into a ball of constantly moving fire.

The flames broke apart, and shot at Blaze. They surrounded her in a fiery aura, before sinking into her. There was a flash of light that nearly blinded everyone, before it faded away.

Blaze was back to normal. She glanced at the three hedgehogs, before slumping from exhaustion. Silver and the others returned to normal, and he quickly moved to her side and held her.

"Hey Blaze, you okay?" he asked worriedly. She looked up at him tiredly.

"I'm fine, just a little tired…"

"You deserve some rest Blaze, and so do you Shadow." Sonic announced, glancing at the black and red hedgehog.

"I'm fine…" Shadow started, but trailed off when everyone, even Blaze, looked at him skeptically. He crossed his arms and looked away, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Let's get back to the ship." Sonic said.

Everyone agreed.

Xoxoxo

…Did I actually finish the final fight? YES I DID! Sorry for the extremely LONG wait, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with Iblis. Finally I decided to do something similar to the 06 ending for Silver's story. And Shadow finally kicked Mephiles' butt! (I've been waiting a long time to let him do that!)

Hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment!


	30. Chapter 30

Upon returning to the ship, Sonic was nearly knocked over by Amy.

"Oh Sonic! I was so worried! Thank goodness you're okay!" she exclaimed, clinging to him, despite his attempts to pry her off.

"Don't worry Amy, I'm fine….except…can't breathe…" Sonic choked out.

Rouge walked over to Shadow.

"Nice to see you got your spark back." She snickered. Shadow hmphed, but gave a small smirk.

"Blaze, you okay, mate?" Marine asked worriedly, walking over to her.

"I'll be fine, Marine, just need…rest." Blaze replied tiredly.

"I think we could all use a little rest, whatta you say we do that back home?" Sonic asked.

"Wait, so, we officially beat the bad guys?" Marine asked.

"Pretty much."

"Great, then I can say this. WE WON!" she exclaimed happily.

Everybody cheered.

"Wait…what about Mephiles? What happened to him?" Bokkun asked. Everybody went silent, and looked at Shadow. He had the same wide eyed look of shock everyone else did, before slapping his forehead.

"Dang it…"

"Wasn't he unconscious?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, but, it looks like he recovered. Take a look at this." Tails replied, putting something on the monitor.

An image of an unconscious Mephiles appeared. His eyes opened somewhat, before he returned to his mist form, and flew off in the vastness of space.

"Great, he's still loose." Shadow grumbled.

"Aw who cares? We beat Iblis, so Mephiles won't have anything to do for a while!" Sonic said in a casual tone.

"He's got a point, it'll be long while before Mephiles can think of something to do." Tails added.

"As far as I can tell, we beat him too!" Marine exclaimed.

"Yeah, Shadow totally kicked his butt!" Bokkun added.

Shadow glanced at the floor as he felt everyone's eyes on him.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't much of a challenge. Anyway, we owe the doctor some gratitude as well. Without the coordinates we wouldn't have made it in time." He muttered.

"Yeah, I guess ol' fuzz face helped out a little…" Marine sighed.

"Where is Dr. Eggman anyway?" Cosmo asked.

Everyone looked around, but Eggman and his robot lackeys were gone.

"Where'd he go?" Rouge asked.

Cream glanced out the window, and noticed something.

"Isn't that Mephiles' ship moving away out there?" she asked, pointing.

Everyone looked outside, and saw the ship was indeed moving. Eggman appeared on screen.

"Well, since Mephiles is gone, and this rightfully my ship, I'll be taking it. Since you pests helped free me, although I certainly didn't need your help, I'll allow you to go without any trouble."

"Gee, thanks, I guess…" Tails said.

"But don't get comfortable! I'll destroy you another day!" Eggman laughed as the monitor shut off. Everyone sweat dropped, and Sonic chuckled a little.

"I see he hasn't changed his motives."

While everyone else was either laughing or discussing things they would do once they got home, Shadow slowly took a step backwards, then zipped out of the room without a sound.

Xoxoxo

"Set our course for home!" Eggman ordered.

"Yes doctor!" Decoe and Bocoe replied in unison.

There was a flash of light, and Shadow appeared in front of the trio. Decoe and Bocoe yelped and hid behind Eggman.

"Wh-what do you want, Shadow?" Bocoe stammered.

Shadow didn't reply, and took a step towards them. He held up his hand, and it took a few seconds for Eggman to realize it was a friendly gesture, and shook his hand.

"I'm going to have to bite my tongue for this later, but thanks." Shadow muttered as he crossed his arms like he always did.

"I'd never pass up a chance to get back at Mephiles for stealing my ship." Eggman snickered.

"Not just that, but…everything else…"

"Oh that, well, I can take pity on my enemies when I want to."

Shadow snickered with a smirk, before turning around and starting to walk away.

"By the way," he added, looking at them over his shoulder. They shrunk back under his glare.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you next time."

Shadow pulled out a chaos emerald, and vanished in another flash of light.

"Did Shadow the Hedgehog just thank us?" Bocoe asked uncertainly.

"Maybe now he'll be nicer to us." Decoe said.

Eggman snorted.

"Well, if he is, we'll catch him off guard next time!" he exclaimed.

Decoe and Bocoe cheered in agreement.

Xoxoxo

_Rouge's P.O.V…._

2 days later we finally made it back home. When we got there, Cream's mom met up with us when landed, along with those bumbling detectives, the Chaotix. They'd been keeping her company while we were away.

Shadow kept his promise, and the moment he and Sonic touched ground, Sonic took off with Shadow in hot pursuit. Vanilla and the Chaotix were puzzled, but we waved it off as nothing, even when we heard Sonic's shout for help and the explosion.

After that, and after Cosmo patched up Sonic, we took a long needed vacation. Tails, Sonic, and Cosmo helped Blaze and Knuckles set up the Chaos and Sol emeralds, along with Knucklehead's precious Master Emerald. He, Tikal, and Shade are all living on Angel Island, and I'm noticing some sparks between Knucklehead and the tribal girl. Blaze and Silver are living near these old ruins, along with Marine. They're definantly not your normal family. Cosmo and Bokkun are livin' with Cream. Tails and Sonic are out running around making sure everyone's doin' okay.

And me and Shadow?

Well, we got tired of Sonic and Knuckles bugging us, so we headed out for more secluded places. Now don't get the wrong idea! We're not those people who make out the second we get privacy! Normally we just talk. Shadow doesn't usually talk about the A.R.K. with anyone. With me though, he seems more comfortable. You'd laugh at the things he and Maria used to get into. I've also learned Maria was a lot more mischievous than she looked.

I've never seen Shadow laugh as much as he's been. It's kinda nice, he looks a lot less serious, and I'll go so far as to say he looks adorable.

Eggman's been quiet for the last few days and Shadow smirks when I point this out. We all know Eggman won't stay down for long, but I say bring it on.

We beat two halves of a sun god, so I think we can take his hunks of junk no problem.

Xoxoxo

_Normal P.O.V…._

A few weeks later, the group gathered in Central City Park for a picnic. Amy and Cream had cooked up various things, and everyone happily dug in.

Watching from the shadow of a tree, a figure growled.

"You haven't escaped me yet, Shadow the Hedgehog…"

Shadow's ear twitched, and he glanced behind him at a tree. No one was there.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"It's nothing." He muttered, turning back to the group. As everyone listened to Marine's 'riveting tale of adventure and heroics', Shadow, for just a minute, thought he heard a voice hiss in his head.

"_Shadow…"_

'_Mephiles…'_ he mentally growled, _'I will destroy you one day…'_

"_Do you plan to do that while eating a muffin?"_

Shadow once again glanced around the area, but shook his head and returned his attention to Marine. He didn't care if Mephiles was here or not. Not at the moment anyway. There'd be plenty of time to worry about the demon later.

Right now, he focused on just having a nice time. Although, with Sonic around, he wasn't quite sure how that was possible.

An explosion cut Marine's story short, and they looked up to see a giant robot with Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe in the cockpit.

"Today is the day the Eggman Empire begins!" Eggman declared.

"Guess he's back." Rouge sighed.

"Great, I was beginning to think nothing interesting was ever gonna happen around here." Sonic chuckled as he got to his feet.

"Well, you guys ready to go to work?" he asked, turning to the others. Silver, Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles, Amy, Blaze, and Shade stood.

"Let's finish this so we can get to the apple pie." Amy yelled, pulling out her hammer.

The fighters charged at the robot, who in turn charged at them.

Things were most definantly back to normal.

Xoxoxo

It's…finally…FINISHED!

Man, I thought I was never gonna finish this story. I started it, what, in March last year or something? I finally forced myself to sit down and finish this chapter. For everyone who stuck with me and read this story, I thank you, and hope you enjoyed the story! There most likely will be a sequel later, once I think of something.^^

Well, you know what to do, click the blue words at the bottom of the page and leave a review please! This is the FINAL CHAPTER of the Iblis Saga!


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